A windy Sunday; smoke aloft, but good air quality for us

You’ll notice the strong, gusty winds this Sunday afternoon and evening. It’s too bad that the Minnesota Twins aren’t in town today; the strong winds would make it easier to hit home runs, especially to left field.

Peak wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph are forecast for much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin this Sunday. Southwestern Minnesota will see some gusts over 40 mph at times.

Here’s the NWS peak wind forecast:

The Duluth NWS has issued small craft advisories for parts of Lake Superior:

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

Warmer temps

Minnesota and western Wisconsin highs will be mainly in the 70s Sunday afternoon, with a few lower 80s in southwestern Minnesota. There will be some upper 60s in parts of northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.

Scattered showers could develop in portions of western Minnesota anytime from mid to late afternoon. That shower chance spreads eastward Sunday evening and overnight Sunday night. In the Twin Cities metro area, our shower chance should hold off until after sunset this Sunday.

Smoke aloft

A layer of smoke from western U.S. wildfires is sitting over much of Minnesota and 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. 

Temperature trends

Monday highs will be mainly in the 70s, with lower 80s in the far south:

Metro area highs are expected to reach the uper 70s to around 80. Our average high temp is 70 degrees this time of year.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be around 80 on Tuesday, followed by lower 80s on Wednesday. Our highs retreat to the lower 70s on Thursday, then we 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.

Here’s a nice Sunday morning fall color sample:

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.