Wednesday heated up. Scattered stormy periods coming.
Our rather brief stretch of cooler weather has given way to toasty temperatures again. The Twin Cities had warmed to 87 at 6 p.m. on Wednesday while much of western Minnesota was reporting readings in the low to mid-90s.
Cold front action
A cold front from Manitoba dropped southeastward into northwestern Minnesota by late Wednesday afternoon. Thunderstorms have been brewing in that area and will grow through the evening.
Strong or severe thunderstorms are possible Wednesday evening and overnight as storms track southeast across northern and central Minnesota and into northern Wisconsin. A slight risk of severe weather (level 2 on the five-level risk ladder) has been posted for much of that area including Duluth and the Iron Range. That area is surrounded by a marginal risk (level 1) that extends south just into the Twin Cities metro area. The Twin Cities could see a few thunderstorms after midnight.
More storms for Thursday
Cooler air will slide into northern Minnesota for Thursday while the south will stay toasty and rather muggy. Thunderstorms are possible in southern Minnesota during the day. The greatest chance of severe weather will be later in the day in the southcentral and southeastern parts of the state.
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Scattered rainfall for Friday and the weekend
The weather patterns get fuzzier beginning on Friday and for the weekend. The weather models cannot determine where outflow boundaries from previous convection will be. It is the interactions of those boundaries with ripples in the atmosphere that often drive the next rounds of storms.
As of this Wednesday afternoon, I would say that the best chance of some thunderstorms on Friday will be in southern Minnesota.
The weekend outlook for storms and much-needed rain are anybody’s guess, thanks to that boundaries issue. So let’s just call for scattered showers and thunderstorms over the weekend and leave it at that for now.
It does look as though weekend temperatures will be about normal warmth for late June.
