Scattered thunderstorms early Saturday evening; bright and cooler Sunday
Don't be surprised if you see lightning and hear thunder this Saturday evening.
Scattered thunderstorms will continue into the early evening hours in parts of southern and central Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro area. Some of the thunderstorms could have wind gusts to 40 mph or higher.
Updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network and you can see weather updates on the MPR News live weather blog.
A nice Sunday
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Sunday will be mostly sunny and cooler, with highs in the 60s over northern Minnesota and lower 70s in the central and south:
Lake Minnetonka ice-out ties record
It finally happened!
Here are more details, from the Freshwater Society:
Freshwater Society and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Water Patrol declared ice-out on Lake Minnetonka just after 12 noon today (May 5). That makes this year’s ice-out tied for the latest on record, sharing the honors with May 5, 1857. This was 21 days later than the April 14 median date — when half the recorded ice-outs have occurred earlier and half later. In the last twenty years, 14 dates have been earlier than the median date and six have been on or later.
Ice-out records on Lake Minnetonka date back to 1855 and are a valuable if inexact method for revealing long-term trends. There is no one best way to determine ice-out on lakes; methods vary from lake to lake so consistency from year to year is what researchers and agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources prefer to see. Lake Minnetonka is declared ice-free when a boat can pass through channels and navigate all portions of the lake.
The ice-out call for 2018 was made after monitoring the ice from shore and communicating with nearby Freshwater members and the Water Patrol. Once conditions allowed, the Water Patrol began boat trips accompanied by Freshwater Society board members and friends to areas of the lake where significant ice remained.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has ice-out information for many Minnesota lakes.
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., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.