Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Finally, October: 50s and spotty showers Wednesday

Near freezing in the Twin Cities Friday and Saturday mornings

Temperatures Wednesday afternoon
Temperatures Wednesday afternoon
Oklahoma Mesonet

Talk about a reality check.

Temperatures have been 5.2 degrees warmer than average through the first 11 days of October in the Twin Cities. But our latest Aug-tober fling came to an abrupt end with Tuesday night’s cold front.

Wednesday temperatures are running in the 40s and 50s across Minnesota.

Our more typical October chill level lingers through the upcoming weekend. Highs will range from the upper 30s north to the 40s and 50s through the weekend across Minnesota.

Forecast high temperatures Thursday
Forecast high temperatures Thursday.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Overnight lows will bottom out in the 20s and lower 30s Friday morning and Saturday morning.

Forecast low temperatures Saturday morning
Forecast low temperatures Saturday morning
NOAA

The coldest temperature in the Twin Cities so far this fall is 34 degrees on Oct. 8. We may dip a couple of degrees below that number by Saturday morning.

Scattered, mostly light showers slide eastward today in the colder air mass behind the front. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NAM 3 km model shows the patchy rainfall coverage trend between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. Wednesday.

NOAA NAM 3 km model
NOAA NAM 3 km model between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. Wednesday
NOAA, via Tropical Tidbits

Warmer again next week?

NOAA’s Global Forecast System model and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model suggest we will see another push of milder air late next week.

Both models suggest highs will return into the 60s and 70s across the Upper Midwest between about next Thursday and the weekend of Oct. 22-23.

Here’s the European model temperature output for 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20.

European model (ECMWF) temperature forecast
Temperature forecast for 1 p.m. on Oct. 20.
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

Stay tuned.