Above-normal temps this Sunday and through the coming week
Fall color update for leaf-peepers
The weather is great today for Twin Cities Marathon runners and spectators.
Those sticky dew points of Saturday have moved away, and we now have comfortable dew points in the 50s.
Most of Minnesota will have a rain-free Sunday afternoon and evening. There’s a chance of scattered light rain showers in northeastern Minnesota, far southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
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.
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Temperature trends
Our average Twin Cities high temp is 65 degrees on Oct. 3. The Twin Cities metro area and much of Minnesota will see Sunday afternoon highs of 70 degrees or warmer. Northeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have Sunday highs in the 60s.
Monday high temps will reach the 70s in many locations:
Northeastern Minnesota will have mainly 60s.
Monday dew points will be in the comfortable 50s and upper 40s:
Back to high temps, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 70s Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by mid 70s on Thursday and Friday.
Above-normal temps may linger through next weekend and into the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for above-normal temps in Minnesota and Wisconsin from Oct. 10 through Oct. 16:
Fall colors
The percentage of changeover to fall colors is highest in northern Minnesota right now. Here’s the latest fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:
Keep in mind that all deciduous trees are included in the fall color report, not just maples. Wisconsin fall color info can be found here.
There are some pockets of very good fall color elsewhere, including portions of the Twin Cities metro area. This pic was taken along the Mississippi River on Friday:
Rewind to February
September was warmer than normal in the Twin Cities and most of Minnesota. The past seven months have all been warmer than normal in the Twin Cities. Our last colder than normal month in the Twin Cities was February.
MSP airport had a ten-day stretch in February with high temps colder than 10 degrees…on four of those days the high temp was below zero!
I’ve highlighted that February arctic stretch:
December 2020 and January 2021 were much warmer than normal in the Twin Cities, so meteorological winter (December through February) was slightly warmer than normal…despite that incredibly cold stretch in February.
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.