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Many parts of Minnesota could really use some rain, as drought conditions linger. I have details of the latest report from U.S. Drought Monitor, but let’s first dive into our weekend forecast details.

Most areas won’t see any rain this weekend. Northern Minnesota and parts of northwestern Wisconsin could see some scattered showers at times on Saturday.

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

One forecast model also shows a chance of scattered showers in the northern third or so of Minnesota Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 75 degrees on Sept. 11. We could top 80 in the metro area this Saturday. Saturday highs will range from 60s in northwestern Minnesota to 80s in the far south:

Saturday dew points will be in the comfortable 40s and 50s in northern and central Minnesota, with stickier 60s in the southeast:

Sunday highs will be in the 60s north, with 70s south:

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

, which was released this morning, shows that 85.6 percent of Minnesota is in drought right now, with almost 6 percent (shaded dark red) in exceptional drought:

Extreme drought (shaded medium red) covers almost 31 percent of Minnesota. The extreme drought area stretches across a wide swath of northern Minnesota. 

Most of the seven-county Twin Cities metro area is in moderate drought, according to U.S. Drought Monitor.

Parts of Iowa, southern Wisconsin and far northwestern Wisconsin are also in drought right now:

Severe or exceptional drought covers parts of North Dakota and South Dakota as well as a large portion of the western U.S.:

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.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

The start of our weekend will feature some sharp temperature contrasts from northern Minnesota to southern Minnesota. We have details on that, plus who could see a weekend shower. We also have the latest report on drought conditions across Minnesota and nationally.

Weekend forecast: Coolest temps north, summery Saturday in the south

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