Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Weekend forecast: Friday p.m. storms, then mainly quiet

Cooler and less humid this weekend

With 96 percent of Minnesota in drought right now, we need some rain.

At midday Friday, there were scattered thunderstorms in northwestern Minnesota and a few spotty thunderstorms in west-central Minnesota. Thunderstorms are expected to blossom over much of western Minnesota this afternoon and spread eastward later Friday afternoon and Friday evening.

Here’s the NWS depiction of thunderstorms development Friday afternoon and evening:

A few severe thunderstorms are possible Friday afternoon and evening:

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Severe weather outlook Friday and Friday evening
National Weather Service

Our best chance of thunderstorms in the Twin Cities metro area will be Friday evening.

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has much of Minnesota in a slight risk (shaded yellow) of severe weather Friday afternoon and evening:

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Severe weather outlook Friday and Friday night
NWS Storm Prediction Center

Slight risk means that scattered severe thunderstorms are possible.

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.

Dry for much of Saturday and Sunday

The Friday night thunderstorms will move off to the east by sunrise on Saturday. Then most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will be dry into Sunday morning. A few scattered showers and thunderstorms could develop in western Minnesota Sunday afternoon, then spread eastward Sunday evening.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 6 a.m. Saturday through 6 p.m. Sunday:

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Simulated radar 6 a.m. Saturday through 6 p.m. Sunday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Weekend highs and dew points

It’ll feel like September in much of Minnesota this Saturday, with highs in the 60s north and 70s south:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Dew points will be in the comfortable 40s and 50s in Minnesota, with stickier 60s in parts of western Wisconsin:

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Saturday 1 p.m. forecast dew points
National Weather Service

Winds will be gusty on Saturday.

Sunday high temps will be in the 70s:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday dew points will be in the 40s and 50s:

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Sunday 1 p.m. forecast dew points
National Weather Service

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.