Warm through Friday; steamy weekend
It's warm now, but some much warmer weather is coming soon.
Our average high this time of year is 77 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area.
Highs will be well above average through Friday, then it will be downright hot this weekend.
Thursday and Friday
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Most of northern Minnesota will see highs in the 70s Thursday afternoon, while 80s are expected in central and southern Minnesota.
Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms are possible in northeastern and central Minnesota, as well as southern Minnesota, Thursday afternoon and evening.
Most of Minnesota will reach the 80s Friday afternoon, with some 70s in the northeast:
Winds off of Lake Superior could limit highs t0 the 60s in some spots along the north shore on Friday.
Weekend heat and humidity
Highs in the 90s are expected over most of southern and central Minnesota on Saturday, and a few spots in the southwest could touch 100 degrees.
Sunday highs could also reach the 90s in much of central and southern Minnesota.
Dew points will be in the sticky 60s.
Northern Minnesota could see scattered showers and thunderstorms Saturday and Saturday night, then the chance of showers and thunderstorms will expand to cover parts of central and southern Minnesota on Sunday.
Here are some weekend highlights from the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service:
And here's a timely reminder about heat safety from the NWS:
Drought update
The latest update from U.S. Drought Monitor shows that northwestern Minnesota was abnormally dry as of Tuesday, June 6:
A small part of northwestern Minnesota had entered the moderate drought category.
According to radar estimates, northwestern Minnesota saw some much needed rainfall Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night:
The green shaded areas indicate 24 hour rain totals of generally one-half inch to 1 inch, with a bit over one inch in the small dark green areas.
You'll also notice that there was more than 1.5 inches of rain over a small part of central Minnesota late Wednesday.
Only .02 inch was measured at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Wednesday night.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m. and 9:35 a.m. each Saturday and Sunday.