A windy Sunday; dry in most areas
Fall colors best up north
Gusty winds this afternoon will rearrange our hair and may blow some loose leaves around our yards.
Here’s the NWS forecast of peak wind gusts today:
Peak wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph are forecast for much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Southwestern Minnesota will see some gusts over 40 mph at times.
High temperatures will be mainly in the 70s, with some lower 80s in southwestern Minnesota:
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Parts of northeastern Minnesota an northwestern Wisconsin will top out in the upper 60s.
Smoke stays aloft
A layer of smoke from western U.S. wildfires has 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.
Scattered showers possible late Sunday
Most of Sunday 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.
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.
This Updraft blog will be updated around 10 a.m. with details on the weather for this coming week.
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.