‘Unhealthy’ air quality expected in eastern Minnesota through Monday afternoon due to wildfire smoke

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It’s Memorial Day weekend, so a few minutes of rain are almost expected. Some of us saw some morning showers. Parts of southern Minnesota had thunderstorms and downpours for a while. Additional scattered showers and a few thunderstorms could pop up in parts of Minnesota and western Wisconsin Sunday afternoon and evening.

The updated severe weather outlook from the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center shows a marginal risk of severe weather from the southeastern part of the Twin Cities metro area into southern Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin:

Marginal risk (shaded dark-green) means that an isolated severe thunderstorm is possible. Any severe weather threat in Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin would tend to hold off until later this afternoon and into this evening. The light-green shaded area indicates general (non-severe) thunderstorms are possible.

You can hear updated weather information on the MPR 

, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News 

We could see some occasional scattered showers and a few embedded thunderstorms on Memorial Day.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows this potential rain pattern Monday and Monday evening:

Any given spot will also have many dry hours on Memorial Day.

Sunday afternoon highs will be mainly in the 70s. A few spots in southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin could top 80 degrees late Sunday afternoon. Dew points will be in the 60s across much of central and southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Memorial Day highs will feature a lot of 70s, with some spots topping 80 degrees:

Many areas will have dew points in the sticky 60s on Memorial Day:

Back to high temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs will probably retreat to the upper 70s on Tuesday, followed by lower 80s Wednesday and around 80 on Thursday and Friday.

We don’t see any chilly weather in the near future. The NWS Climate Prediction Center temperature outlook for May 29 through June 2 shows a tendency for above-normal temps in Minnesota and western Wisconsin:

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

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

Some of us will have dry weather Sunday afternoon and evening, but some of us could see a shower or thunderstorm. We have your forecast details for the rest of the Memorial Day weekend.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible

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