Pleasant and bright Tuesday. Rain develops late Wednesday

Updated 9 a.m.

Most of Minnesota will see sunshine Tuesday with increasing clouds west. Highs will be in the low 60s to low 70s. Rain showers develop late Wednesday into the overnight.

Improved air quality but still hazy

Air quality is now good to moderate (green and yellow) for Minnesota early Tuesday. The unhealthy (orange and red) air that was over us is now over Omaha, Neb., and Kansas City, Mo.

While surface smoke is mostly out of Minnesota, we still have smoke aloft making for hazy skies. Most forecast models do keep at least some haze around yet the next couple of days.

Ultimately, the problem is that much of western Canada is very dry. Large swaths of British Columbia through Alberta, Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan are in extreme drought. Any fires that start will expand and be difficult to contain in those conditions.

Check out the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s latest air quality conditions, alerts and forecasts:

Pleasant Tuesday before more possible rain showers Wednesday 

Look for plenty of sun for most of the state Tuesday. It’ll be very pleasant with highs ranging from the low to mid-70s south to 60s north. Temperatures will be cooler near Lake Superior, mostly in the 50s.

Wednesday will still be warm but clouds will start to move into western Minnesota with showers there late in the day.

Clouds will increase in northwestern Minnesota ahead of the next disturbance that will bring showers late Wednesday into Wednesday night. 

This next bout of rain will not be a widespread soaking like some recent systems. Most should see under one-half inch of rainfall.

The remainder of the week will be a bit unsettled with spotty pop-up showers and thunder possible Friday into the weekend in a very summer-like, convective pattern. Temperatures will also be trending upward with 80s possible in southern Minnesota again Saturday.