A very warm Fourth of July; PM thunder chance

This will be a very summery Fourth of July.

Highs reach the 90s in most areas:

A few spots in southwestern and west-central Minnesota could reach 100. There will be some 80s up along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Dew points will be in the sticky 60s in most areas:

There is a heat advisory from noon to 8 p.m. this Sunday for four counties in southwestern Minnesota: Lincoln, Lyon, Pipestone and Rock County. Heat index values could reach 105 degrees in those four counties.

It’ll be breezy today, with gusts over 20 mph in many locations:

Forecast gusts are in knots, with 20 knots equal to 23 mph. Higher gusts can be expected near any thunderstorms that develop.

Thunderstorm chances

There are scattered showers and thunderstorms in portions of northeastern Minnesota early this Sunday morning. They are tracking eastward.

Additional scattered showers and thunderstorms could develop in northern Minnesota later this morning and this afternoon, with that rain chance spreading into northwestern Wisconsin late this afternoon.

Scattered showers and t-storms are possible anywhere in Minnesota and western Wisconsin Sunday evening. The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a marginal risk of severe weather Sunday and Sunday night in the portions of Minnesota and Wisconsin that are shaded dark-green on the following image:

Marginal risk means that an isolated severe t-storm is possible. The Storm Prediction Center will update the Sunday severe weather outlook several times in the next 12 hours.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

This Updraft blog will be updated around 10:20 a.m. with a look at the week ahead.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.