Weekend forecast: Saturday thunder chance, dry on Sunday

I’ll start with an update from the National Weather Service Grand Forks, N.D., office concerning the Wednesday tornado that hit parts of Grant and Otter Tail counties in northwestern Minnesota.

The NWS storm survey team determined that it was an EF-4 tornado, with max winds of 170 mph:

Here’s a table of tornado wind categories, with the Enhanced Fujita Scale in use since 2007:

A look at tornado statistics on the NWS site shows that Wednesday’s tornado was only the fourth EF-4 tornado in the northwest quarter of Minnesota since 1996.

The weekend

Southwestern Minnesota may see scattered thunderstorms late Friday afternoon and Friday evening, then the thunderstorms may expand into more of southern Minnesota overnight Friday night.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible in Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Saturday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh forecast model shows the potential rain pattern Friday evening through Saturday afternoon:

Most locations will also have many dry hours on Saturday.

You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Temperatures and dew points

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 84 degrees on July 11. Our Saturday high in the Twin Cities is expected to be close to 84 degrees. Far northern Minnesota will have Saturday highs in the 70s, with 80s elsewhere:

Saturday dew points will be in the 60s in most spots, with 50s in northeastern Minnesota:

Sunday forecast highs will be mainly in the 80s, with a few 70s in northeastern Minnesota:

Sunday dew points will be in the 50s north, with lower 60s central and south:

I hope that you have a great weekend!