Pleasant Saturday; windy Sunday, with a late-day shower/t-storm chance

The Friday high of 80 degrees at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was summery. Our average Twin Cities high temp is only 61 degrees this time of year.

Twin Cities highs could reach the mid 60s this Saturday afternoon. Highs today will range from the lower 50s in parts of northeastern Minnesota to upper 60s in southwestern Minnesota. There could be a stray 70 in the far southwest.

Windy and a bit warmer Sunday

Sunday highs are expected to range from the 60s in northeastern Minnesota to lower 80s in far southwestern Minnesota:

The Twin Cities metro area will probably reach the lower 70s.

Winds pick up on Sunday, with gusts of 20-30 mph possible in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, and gusts over 35 mph in parts of western Minnesota:

Plotted values are in knots, with 22 knots equal to around 25 mph and 33 knots equal to around 38 mph.

I should mention that much higher gusts are possible near any thunderstorms that develop late Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.

Sunday p.m. rain and thunder chances

Some showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop in western Minnesota late Sunday afternoon/early Sunday evening. The showers/embedded t-storms will spread eastward into eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin as we go through Sunday evening and Sunday night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows this potential rain pattern Sunday afternoon through the overnight hours of Sunday night:

The best chance of rain/thunder in the Twin Cities metro area will be from Sunday evening into the overnight hours of Sunday night.

The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a slight risk of severe weather late Sunday afternoon and Sunday night in western Minnesota. Slight risk means that scattered severe thunderstorms are possible.

Here’s the NWS Twin Cities discussion of the Sunday afternoon/Sunday night severe weather potential:

There’s a marginal risk of severe weather (shaded dark green) Sunday evening and Sunday night in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, meaning an isolated severe thunderstorm is possible.

The week ahead

Temps will be close to normal to start the coming week, then they take a dip. Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 60s on Monday, then around 60 Tuesday and back to the lower 60s Wednesday. We might only reach the lower 50s on Thursday and Friday.

Fall color update

We’re seeing some vibrant fall colors in the Twin Cities metro area right now. Weekend leaf-peeping will be good across much of southern Minnesota and parts of central Minnesota, with spottier fall colors to the north. Here’s the latest fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:

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.