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Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News
Sven Sundgaard

Colder and windy Thursday; drought expands in latest drought monitor

Little or no rain continues the dry pattern

drought title image
The latest drought monitor shows drought expanding in Minnesota
National Drought Mitigation Center

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Blustery north winds will push temperatures down from the 50s into the 40s across southern Minnesota and keep temperatures in the 30s and 40s in northern Minnesota Thursday. Frost will be widespread outside of the Twin Cities Thursday night. In the latest drought monitor, drought expands.

Temperatures tumble Thursday on north winds

Cold air is blowing in across Minnesota with blustery north winds at 10-25 mph Thursday. Gusts will be 25 to 40 mph. High temperatures will be in the 40s in northern Minnesota and in southern Minnesota the high temperatures are behind us. We’ll see temperatures slowly drop through the 50s into the 40s by evening in the Twin Cities.

thu highs 8am
Forecast high temperatures Thursday
NOAA via pivotal weather

Thursday night will see widespread freezing temperatures in northern Minnesota and frost south, but mainly outside of the Twin Cities.

thu nt low 8am
Forecast low temperatures Thursday night into early Friday
NOAA via pivotal weather

High temperatures Friday will be chilly, only in the 40s to around 50 for some in southern Minnesota but with sunshine and lighter winds.

fri highs 8am
Forecast high temperatures Friday
NOAA via pivotal weather

Friday night will bring more widespread freezing temperatures and we could get closer to frost potential in Minneapolis-St. Paul proper where we have yet to see it.

sat low 8am
Forecast low temperatures Friday night into early Saturday
NOAA via pivotal weather

By next week, we’ll see warmer temperatures, near 70 again Tuesday.

tue highs 8am
Forecast high temperatures by Tuesday
NOAA via pivotal weather

Latest drought monitor shows extreme drought for the first time this year

The drought expands across Minnesota in the latest U.S. drought monitor. Extreme drought now shows up for the first time this year and includes 4 percent of Minnesota. Severe drought expanded from 4 percent last week to now 11 percent of Minnesota. Drought overall expanded from 22 percent to now 35 percent of Minnesota.

drought monitor full
The drought monitor shows extreme drought for the first time in Minnesota this week
National Drought Mitigation Center

In the Twin Cities, we’re behind -8.28 inches for the year. September was the driest on record with only 0.24 inches of rainfall.