Updraft®

Beautiful Wednesday ahead; more rain likely on July 4

Wednesday looks best for outdoor activities

Forecast high temperatures Wednesday
Forecast high temperatures Wednesday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Timing is everything.

After the wettest April-June period on record, you would hope we’d catch a break with some sunny dry weather for the Fourth of July holiday. But another wave of rain and thunderstorms looks likely for much of Minnesota Thursday.

The silver lining? Wednesday looks glorious if you’re able to take advantage.

A few showers linger across parts of Minnesota into Tuesday evening. Wednesday brings bright blue skies and sunshine. Temperatures will feel summery for a change with highs in the 80s. (See the image above.)

Another low-pressure wave will ride across northern Iowa on Thursday. The strongest storms will favor Iowa, but storm clusters across southern Minnesota could produce some locally heavy rainfall on July Fourth.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core model loop below shows the trend between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday.

NOAA FV3 model
FV3 model between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Forecast models show another inch or two of rain could fall by Friday morning across southern Minnesota. Here’s the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model rainfall output:

European model (ECMWF) precipitation output
Precipitation output forecast through Thursday
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

Locally heavy rainfall is possible Thursday across southern Minnesota.

I hope the storm timing will work out for the fireworks displays on Thursday evening, but several models bring storms across southern Minnesota during the late evening Thursday. It may be hit or miss for some Thursday fireworks displays across southern Minnesota.

Stay tuned.