Powerful Hurricane Dorian edges closer to the South Carolina coast

It’ll feel summery Thursday afternoon in southern and central Minnesota plus parts of western Wisconsin.

Yes, it’s been cool for awhile. The last time that our official Twin Cities temperature reached 80 degrees or warmer was on Aug. 20.

We should touch 80 by late Thursday afternoon in the metro area, and a few spots in the metro area could poke slightly above 80. Dew points will also rise Thursday afternoon, so it’ll feel a bit summery.

Temperature trends

Thursday afternoon highs are expected to range from the mid-80 in southwestern Minnesota to 60s in north-central and northeastern Minnesota.

Friday highs will be in the 70s in most areas, with 60s to the far north:

Saturday highs will only reach the 60s in most locations:

Sixties will be widespread on Sunday, too.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach 70 degrees Monday, followed by mid-70s Tuesday and lower 70s Wednesday.

Rain chances

Some strong thunderstorms have been moving through portions of northern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin Thursday morning. There have even been a few severe thunderstorms.

The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center shows a marginal risk of severe weather Thursday and Thursday night for portions of Minnesota and Wisconsin:

Marginal risk means that isolated severe thunderstorms are possible.

Most of the thunderstorm activity is expected to pass to the north and northeast of the Twin Cities metro area, but the metro could see an isolated thunderstorm. The NWS will update its severe weather outlook several times Thursday.

As always, updated weather information can be heard on your radio or live stream, and you’ll also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

You can see the recent local NWS radar loop here. The northwestern Minnesota radar loop and the northeastern Minnesota radar loop are also available. The recent radar loop for southwestern Minnesota can be found here, and the southeastern Minnesota loop here.

Most of Friday should be dry, then off and on showers are expected this weekend in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Hurricane Dorian

Hurricane Dorian edged closer to the South Carolina coast Thursday morning, as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale:

Hurricane Dorian was 70 miles south-southeast of Charleston, S.C., Thursday morning and was moving north-northeast at 8 mph. Maximum sustained winds were 115 mph. Hurricane- force winds extended out about 60 miles from the center of Dorian.

The National Hurricane Center shows this forecast track for the center of Hurricane Dorian over the next few days:

The forecast graphic depicts the “cone of uncertainty” of the path of the center of Hurricane Dorian.

This update was posted Thursday morning by the National Hurricane Center:

A turn toward the northeast is anticipated by tonight, and a northeastward motion at a faster forward speed is forecast on Friday. On the forecast track, the center of Dorian will continue to move close to the coast of South Carolina Thursday, and then move near or over the coast of North Carolina tonight and Friday

In addition to damaging winds and a powerful storm surge along the coast, heavy rainfall totals are possible with Dorian:

Between 6 inches and 15 inches of rain could fall in eastern portions of South Carolina and North Carolina. Hurricane Dorian updates are posted by the The National Hurricane Center every few hours.

Forecasters have been tracking Dorian for more than a week:

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.