Warm weekend gives way to a wetter pattern next week

We’re getting a wide variety of weather in the next week across Minnesota.

Friday brought temperatures into the 90s in western Minnesota. Madison recorded 93 degrees Friday afternoon. Granite Falls did that one better at 94 degrees. As of this post time, the Twin Cities has hit a toasty 85 degrees.

Note the warm nose of air riding into the Upper Midwest Friday afternoon:

Saturday brings another warm summerlike day for southern Minnesota. Highs will reach the 80s before a cool front blows through eastern Minnesota around midday. Westerly breezes will gust to 25 mph behind the front Friday across Minnesota.

The rest of Minnesota will be mainly in the 70s for highs on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

Most of the weekend will be dry, but a few scattered thunderstorms may develop across southern Minnesota on Sunday afternoon.

Wetter pattern ahead next week

Next week looks active and wet for much of Minnesota. The strongest system looks likely on Tuesday.

Here’s the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model run Monday and Tuesday of next week:

The setup next week favors a strong fetch of Gulf of Mexico moisture riding northward into Minnesota. That could produce some hefty rainfall totals.

Forecast models are cranking out multi-inch rainfall early next week. The usually trusty European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts lays out a swath of 1 to more than 4 inches of rainfall across southern and eastern Minnesota through next Tuesday.

This year has brought record-low severe weather to much of Minnesota so far. That’s in direct contrast to last year, which was the busiest season for severe weather warnings in the Twin Cities area on record through May.

Stay tuned for potential flash flooding rain next week.