Friday's heat is already setting records

As the heat rises, so do weather-related problems.  Minnesota sees everything from severe weather and fire risk to air quality concerns during the day Friday.

Friday forecast

Minnesota is starting Friday very warm for early June. There are a few 50s in the Arrowhead and central Minnesota, but most of the state is starting in the 60s, but a few places never dropped out of the 70s, including parts of the Twin Cities. 

These morning lows will already end up setting some records for “high minimums.” For example, the Twin Cities only dropped to 73 Friday morning, and the previous warmest low temperature for June 4th was 70.

Daytime highs will also run far above average, with much of Minnesota at least 20 degrees above average and in the 90s.  Western Minnesota could see a few 100s.

This will set record highs around the state. A couple places that will see highs right near the record include the Twin Cities, Rochester, and International Falls, which have records of 96, 93, and 92 respectively. In western Minnesota, Moorhead could shatter the current record of 95.

In addition to setting records, the hot weather contributes to several concerns in addition to heat illness. 

The combination of heat and low humidity had much of northern and western Minnesota under either a red flag warming (pink) or fire weather watch (beige).

And the sunny plus hot conditions will impact the air quality, triggering an air quality alert for areas around the Twin Cities.

After a dry and mostly sunny day, a few showers and storms start moving across northern Minnesota by Friday evening, and the heat could help fuel a couple isolated severe storms, with damaging wind as the primary risk, but large hail is also possible.

The weekend brings more of the hot weather, with little relief even in the overnights.

That extended forecast will be updated around 9 a.m.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.