A colder weather trend begins on Labor Day

Much-cooler-than-average weather has settled across Minnesota and stays firmly in place until the weekend. The southern edge of the state also sees rain chances through mid-week.

Labor Day Forecast

Behind a potent cold front, the entire state is noticeably colder Monday. Morning lows were only slightly below average and in the 40s and 50s.  However, daytime temperatures do not warm much due to a wind flow from the northwest funneling colder air across the state.  Highs will only be in the 50s for most of the state, which is 10 to 20 degrees below average.

Skies stay mostly cloudy for much of the state Monday, and central and northern Minnesota are likely to remain dry.

However, showers start moving across southern Minnesota by late morning, bringing periods of rain through the rest of the day, including the Twin Cities. 

Lingering rain

The rain in southern Minnesota on Monday is thanks to a more active pattern south of the state that will keep occasional showers moving through southern Minnesota through at least Wednesday.

This also keeps more clouds over southern Minnesota, with more sunshine finally returning to the forecast Thursday. Meanwhile, most of northern Minnesota stays predominantly dry and sunnier much of the week. 

Here is the precipitation forecast through Wednesday night, showing the contrast in expected rainfall over the next three days:

Cold weather

With skies clearing somewhat overnight Monday, then staying clearer much of the week, morning lows will drop into the 30s the next few mornings in northern Minnesota. Because of this, most of northern Minnesota is under a Frost Advisory Monday night into Tuesday morning (darker blue) for temperatures that are expected to drop near freezing. 

A corridor in northwestern Minnesota (light blue) is under a freeze warning, with some of those temperatures expected to dip below freezing.  Wednesday morning should start even colder, with more widespread temperatures below freezing, so more of northern Minnesota is likely to be under a Freeze Warning overnight Tuesday.

For highs, most of Minnesota will make it only into the low 50s Tuesday, which puts the majority of the state over 20 degrees below average. Then temperatures slowly warm into the 60s by Thursday. By the end of the week, northern Minnesota is back to average highs for mid-September, with southern Minnesota only a few degrees below average.

Here is that forecast for the Twin Cities:

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.