Fall is here, but temperatures feel like summer

Although fall officially started Tuesday morning, temperatures continue to feel much more like summer through the end of the week.

Tuesday’s forecast

Tuesday started fairly seasonable, with 30s and 40s north and 50s and 60s south. 
The entire state warms to about 10 degrees or more above average by the afternoon, with 70s north and 80s in southern and central Minnesota.

Combined with widespread sunshine, it will feel very summer-like, despite fall officially beginning at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. 

The sunshine will be hazy again, especially for the southern half of Minnesota and that same portion of the state can also expected the air quality to be in the “moderate” category at times due to smoke filtering in from the West Coast.

Summer-like warmth

Above average weather continues the rest of the week, with the temperatures through Friday mostly in the 70s and 80s. The one exception is Thursday briefly dropping into the 60s and 70s behind a cold front, but even that is still above average.

Here is the forecast for the Twin Cities through Friday:

Another cold front dips temperatures into the 60s and 70s again by Saturday, then more seasonable highs in the 50s and 60s return next week.

Spotty rain chances

Most of Minnesota is running below average on precipitation for September, and there are not great chances to reverse that the rest of this week. A cold front that moves through Wednesday into Thursday will bring some scattered showers and storms, especially to northern and eastern Minnesota.

Rainfall should remain mostly light though, with isolated amounts up to one-half inch along the eastern edge of the state.

Another round showers and storms looks likely across the state from Friday evening through Saturday.

Programming note

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