Windy and warmer Sunday; smoke layer aloft will filter our sunshine
Updated fall color outlook
Our Saturday high temp at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 71 degrees. That’s reasonable, since our average Twin Cities high temp is 70 degrees this time of year. We’ll be a few degrees warmer on Sunday.
Smoke overhead
We witnessed a veil of smoke overhead earlier this week. The smoke originated from western U.S. wildfires, and it has now returned to much of Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin. It’s an elevated layer of smoke, so we won’t be breathing it in. The smoke will give us reddish-orange sunsets and sunrises for a couple of days.
The Minnesota Polution Control Agency (MPCA) is forecasting good air quality across Minnesota through this weekend. Updated MPCA air quality readings and forecasts can be found here.
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Windy Sunday
Winds will ramp up late Sunday morning through Sunday afternoon, with afternoon gusts of 30-40 mph in many areas:
The plotted wind gusts are in knots, with 29 knots equal to around 33 mph and 33 knots equal to 38 mph. Some spots could see afternoon wind gusts over 40 mph at tines.
Sunday highs will be in the 70s in many areas, with some lower 80s possible in southwestern Minnesota:
Parts of northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin may top out in the upper 60s.
Scattered showers possible late Sunday
Most of the weekend is expected to be dry. A few scattered showers may develop in parts of western Minnesota by late Sunday afternoon, then spread eastward Sunday evening and overnight Sunday night. Any shower in the Twin Cities metro area would probably hold off until after sunset on Sunday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model model shows the potential rain pattern Sunday afternoon through Sunday evening:
You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
Temperature trends
The Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 70s Monday, followed by around 80 on Tuesday and lower 80s Wednesday. Metro area highs retreat to the lower 70s on Thursday, then rebound to around 80 on Friday.
Next weekend into the start of the following week look warmer than normal. The Sept. 25 through Sept. 29 temperature outlook from the NWS Climate Prediction enter shows a strong tendency for above-normal temps in Minnesota and western Wisconsin:
Fall colors
We’re seeing spotty fall color in the Twin Cities metro area, but our peak fall colors don’t typically arrive in the metro area until sometime in October.
Fall colors are really popping in parts of northern Minnesota. Here’s the latest fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:
The areas shaded yellow are showing the most changeover to fall colors at this point. Keep in mind that all deciduous trees are included in the fall color report, not just maples.
The Wisconsin fall color report can be found here.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.