Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Nice start to the weekend; Sunday rain chance in northern Minnesota

Warmest weekend temps will be on Sunday

This is a nice start to the weekend. Temps are running a few degrees cooler than normal but dew points are comfortable, so I imagine that some people are opening their windows to get some fresh air into their house or apartment.

Air quality is good this morning, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency:

rt0708aqi
Air quality 8 a.m. Saturday
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Minnesota air quality is forecast to stay in the good category today.

Weekend temperatures

The average Twin Cities high temperature is 84 degrees on July 8. I expect many spots in the Twin Cities metro area to top out around 80 degrees later this afternoon.

Much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have highs in the 70s Saturday afternoon:

rt0708h10
Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

There will be some 60s in northeastern Minnesota.

Sunday highs will reach the 80s in most areas, with 70s in portions of northeastern Minnesota:

rt0709h10
Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Rain chances?

It’ll be a dry day across most of Minnesota and western western Wisconsin, but an isolated shower is possible in northeastern Minnesota Saturday afternoon and evening.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible in far northern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin later Saturday night.

Scattered showers/t-storms are possible in roughly the northern third of Minnesota plus northwestern Wisconsin anytime from mid afternoon on Sunday into Sunday night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from noon Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday:

rt0708rad2
Simulated radar from noon Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. You can find the latest radar here.

You can also check these National Weather Service sites for updated weather info: Twin CitiesDuluthLa Crosse, Wis., Sioux Falls and Grand Forks.

Update

A new Updraft will be posted around 10:30 a.m. today. It’ll include a look at the week ahead.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.