Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Weekend forecast: Mostly dry; Saturday shower chance far north

Near-normal highs in many areas

I’ll get to the weekend forecast details, but I first want to mention the rain spreading across Minnesota this Thursday.

As of noon on Thursday, it was raining over roughly the western half of Minnesota, with some embedded thunderstorms in southwestern Minnesota. The rain is expected to move slowly eastward Thursday afternoon and evening, with additional areas of thunderstorms developing. Rain continues in many areas into the overnight hours of Thursday night. Rainfall totals could approach 2 to 3 inches in parts of western Minnesota, with 1 inch or less in much of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

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.

Weekend rain chance?

Showers are possible Friday morning and early Friday afternoon in parts of eastern Minnesota. Western Wisconsin could see showers Friday morning and through much of Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin could see a few scattered showers and an isolated thunderstorm. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon:

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Simulated radar from noon on Friday to 6 p.m. on Saturday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Check forecast updates.

Weekend temps and dew points

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 76 degrees on Sept. 4. We’ll see metro area highs in the low to mid-70s this Saturday. Highs will be in the 70s across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin Saturday afternoon:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Saturday dew points will be in the comfortable 50s in most spots, with stickier lower 60s in far southeastern Minnesota:

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

Sunday highs will be in the 60s in the northern third of Minnesota, with 70s elsewhere:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday dew points will be in the comfortable 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.