Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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Haze, heat and humidity dominate Minnesota’s forecast through Thursday, then a more active weather pattern brings needed rain into the state by late week.

Minnesota saw another warm day Monday, with 80s across most of the state and numerous highs in the 90s in northern and western Minnesota.

Western Minnesota sees that warmer air linger in the overnight, with lows by Tuesday morning still in the 70s, while the rest of the state drops into the 60s.

Temperatures continue to rise Tuesday, with almost the entire state making it into the 90s.

Dew points have also been nudging higher thanks to moist air funneling in with a southerly wind flow. Western Minnesota was already noticeably more humid on Monday, and most of the state will have dew points back in the 60s and higher humidity levels on Tuesday.  

Those increasing humidity levels should help lower the fire risk somewhat.

due to the Greenwood Fire burning in Superior National Forest

, surrounding areas are already under an air quality alert until at least Tuesday afternoon because of smoke from the fire.

Minnesota also saw hazy skies return Monday due to smoke aloft from fires in the western United States, and that haze is forecast to linger through Tuesday.

Otherwise, Tuesday stay mostly sunny and predominantly dry, although a few showers and storms may skirt along the Canadian border during the day. 

Minnesota has been in a predominantly dry pattern for the past week, but that finally begins to change as precipitation starts to move into the northwestern corner of the state Wednesday night.  

A few showers and storms spread across Minnesota during the day Thursday, with most of the state seeing at least isolated rain chances by Thursday evening. 

More widely scattered showers and storms are likely Friday as a cold front moves through.

Periods of showers and storms linger through at least early next week, and some weather models project another heavier round of storms Sunday. 

While there is still some uncertainty in exactly how much precipitation the different rounds of rain may bring, it looks as though much of Minnesota could get at least a half-inch of rain through the weekend. 

This month has been a very dry month for most of Minnesota, so the upcoming rain will probably bring portions of Minnesota more rain than the entire first half of August.

Meanwhile, temperatures remain hot and the humidity stays elevated through Thursday. 

Temperatures dip slightly Friday as more clouds and rain come in. (The Twin Cities forecast model shown possibly overestimates Friday’s highs, which are more likely to be in the upper 80s.)

Behind Friday’s front, temperatures dive to more seasonable levels for mid-August, with highs in the 70s and low 80s over the weekend.

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Nicole Mitchell 

Author

Haze, heat and humidity dominate Minnesota’s forecast through Thursday, then a more active weather pattern brings needed rain into the state by late week.


Minnesota sees widespread rain chances by late week

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