Weekend forecast: Sunny September Saturday; summery Sunday

Fall color update for leaf-peepers

We’ll have some variety in our weekend weather.

Saturday will start out chilly, with lows in the 40s in most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Northeastern Minnesota will have lows in the 30s, with some areas of frost possible:

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Forecast low temps late Friday night/early Saturday
National Weather Service

Weekend highs and dew points

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 72 degrees on Sept. 18. Some spots in the metro area will reach the mid-70s this Saturday. Highs will be mainly in the 70s across Minnesota and western Wisconsin Saturday afternoon, with 60s in northeastern Minnesota:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Saturday dew points will be in the very comfortable 40s in most areas:

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

Sunday highs will reach the 80s in most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday dew points will be in the sticky, summery 60s:

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

Dry weekend in most areas

The weekend looks dry across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. There could be a stray Sunday morning shower in northeastern Minnesota.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the lack of organized showers or thunderstorms this weekend:

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Simulated radar Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Notice the isobars tightening up on Sunday; that means that our winds will be picking up during the day.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Fall color update

Our peak fall colors don’t typically arrive in the Twin Cities metro area until sometime in October.

Impressive fall colors are already popping in parts of northern Minnesota. Here’s the latest fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:

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Friday fall color report
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The areas that are shaded yellow are showing the most changeover to fall colors at this point. Keep in mind that all deciduous trees are included in the fall color report, not just maples.

Most of the 25-50 percent fall color coverage is in northern Minnesota, but there is an area of significant fall color from south-central Sibley County through parts of Nicollet, Brown and Watonwan counties.

It’ll be interesting to watch how our fall colors spread across Minnesota over next two to three weeks! Find more details on parks to visit here.

Wisconsin fall color info can be found here.

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.