Weekend forecast: Periods of showers and thunderstorms

I’ll get to the weekend forecast after this quick mention of the air quality alert that continues until 9 p.m. this Friday in the orange-shaded areas on the following map:

Information on current air quality conditions is posted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency here.

At 11 a.m. Friday, air quality was in either the unhealthy for sensitive groups category (orange) or unhealth category (red) in much of western Minnesota:

Weekend rain opportunities

With most of Minnesota in drought right now, it’s great to be talking about rain. A slow-moving low-pressure system will bring us periods of showers and thunderstorms this weekend. There’ll be some rain-free periods too.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon:

It’ll rain in some areas that look dry in the loop. It’s best to use the loop to gauge the periodic nature of our weekend rain.

Severe weather potential

Scattered severe thunderstorms are possible Saturday and Saturday night, especially in the southern half of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a slight risk of severe weather Saturday and Saturday night in those areas. The slight risk area is shaded yellow in this severe weather discussion from the Twin Cities office of the NWS:

An isolated severe thunderstorm is possible in the area that’s shaded dark-green.

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.

The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a marginal risk of severe weather Sunday and Sunday night from southeastern Minnesota into Wisconsin:

Marginal risk (shaded dark green) means that an isolated severe thunderstorm is possible.

Weekend temps and dew points

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 82 degrees on Aug. 7. The Twin Cities area will probably reach the lower 80s Saturday afternoon. The metro area will share 80s with much of western and southern Minnesota, but northeastern Minnesota will have 70s and some pockets of 60s:

Dew points will be in the sticky 60s in most areas, but they could reach the steamy 70s in parts of the south:

Sunday highs will reach the 80s in southern and central Minnesota, with 70s to the north:

Sunday dew points will be in the steamy 70s in southern and central Minnesota:

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.