Cool, sunny Friday and a very warm, windy Saturday; northern lights possible
Temperature roller coaster continues this weekend
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Sunny skies are back for Friday. Eighty-degree temperatures return Saturday along with strong south winds creating potentially critical fire weather conditions.
A moderate-to-strong solar storm could make the northern lights visible across Minnesota and Wisconsin Friday night and Saturday night.
Pleasant Friday; 80s return Saturday
Friday will see the return of sunny skies and temperatures still on the cooler side, though it’s worth noting our highs in the 60s to near 70 degrees are actually several degrees above normal still.
The very warm air comes surging back into the region Saturday. Highs will be back to near 80 degrees in southern Minnesota.
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Along with the very warm temperatures, it will be very windy again. Winds will howl at 15-25 mph with higher gusts from the south and southwest.
That, combined with low relative humidity values in the afternoon, will create some critical fire weather conditions again.
Our third cold front of the week will sweep through late Saturday, touching off a few rain showers for some lucky spots in northeastern Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Sadly, the timing and speed of the front means that most areas will receive nothing and even those that get some rain will see modest amounts.
Temperatures will dip briefly again for Sunday and Monday before warming back to well-above-normal readings.
By the middle and later part of next week we’ll likely see highs in the upper 70s to near 80- degrees again in southern Minnesota.
Potential for auroras this weekend
Two coronal mass ejections — solar flares — have erupted this week off the sun. The most recent one on Thursday is the biggest of this solar cycle from sunspot AR3842:
That energy is forecast to reach Earth Friday through Sunday. A KP index of 6 to 7 is forecast through most of the next 48 to 72 hours, which would be a moderate to strong (G3) class solar storm.
A KP index of a 6 or higher is high enough energy to make the auroras visible across Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Skies should be clear Friday night and mainly clear Saturday night with some high clouds possible to start the evening Saturday. As usual, get away from city lights to skies that are as dark as possible.
