Strong storms possible late Wednesday; cooler Thursday with wildfire smoke returning

Wednesday will be hot and windy with storms developing late in the day ahead of a cool front. Behind that front it will be a comfortable Thursday, but wildfire smoke from Canada could also blanket the state.

Windy, hot Wednesday with potential severe storms late

Temperatures will soar to near 90 degrees for many spots in southern and western Minnesota Wednesday ahead of a cool front. It will also be windy with afternoon wind speeds at 15-25 mph, gusting to 40 mph.

Dew points will be well into the muggy 60s as well.

All of this is happening ahead of a cool front that will be the focus for developing thunderstorms late in the afternoon into the evening hours.

Those storms have the potential to become severe with damaging wind gusts and large hail. A large portion of eastern Minnesota into western Wisconsin has a slight risk (level 2 out of 5) of severe weather.

Cooler with smoke and potential air quality issues Thursday

Behind the cool front it will be more a comfortable Thursday with highs mainly in the 70s statewide.

Dew points will also drop back into the much more comfortable 50s and even 40s north.

Behind that front will potentially come a plume of Canadian wildfire smoke. Air quality values were around 300 in portions of central Canada which is very unhealthy air.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is monitoring conditions and may issue an alert for Thursday, which as of now is forecast to be unhealthy for central and northern Minnesota.

Check the latest air quality conditions, alerts and forecasts here:

Heat builds for the weekend

After a couple of cooler days, the heat is building back in for the weekend. A potential heat wave increasingly looks likely for Saturday into early next week, though the models do differ on the extent of the heat and duration.