Drought update and a look at rain chances

Our Thursday high temp at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 90 degrees. Thursday was our 12th day this June with an official Twin Cities high of 90 degrees or warmer.

Twin Cities weather records show just three Junes with more than 12 days of 90 or warmer:

Drought update

The weekly drought update from U.S. Drought Monitor shows moderate drought (shaded beige) in much of Minnesota and areas of severe drought (shaded orange) in parts of far southern Minnesota and a portion of northwestern Minnesota:

The counties shaded yellow are abnormally dry, but not yet in drought, according to U.S. Drought Monitor.

The table to the right of the map shows that 74.75 percent of Minnesota is in drought right now, with abnormally dry conditions elsewhere in Minnesota. One year ago, just 17.14 percent of Minnesota was experiencing drought conditions.

Much of Iowa and central and southern Wisconsin have drought conditions right now:

Drought conditions are even worse in portions of North Dakota and South Dakota and in numerous western states:

Rain chances

Areas of thunderstorms will continue this Thursday evening in portions of central and southern Wisconsin, with scattered thunderstorms possible in southeastern Minnesota.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Most of Friday will be rain-free, but scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible late Friday night and on Saturday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening:

Much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms on Sunday, but areas that do see some rain will also have many dry hours this weekend.

Temperatures

Friday highs reach the 80s in most spots, with a few upper 70s in far northern Minnesota:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a stray 90 in southern Minnesota.

Friday afternoon dew points will be in the relatively comfortable 50s:

Saturday highs will be mainly in the upper 70s to lower 80s:

By the way, our average Twin Cities high temp is 81 degrees this time of year.

Sunday highs will once again be mainly in the upper 70s and lower 80s:

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.