Foggy, rainy and warm for Friday

After a relatively quiet week so far, Friday is shaping up to be a much more active day, with an area of rain east, then more rain moving in from the west.

Friday’s forecast

Minnesota is already starting the day Friday with much more active weather than we have seen recently.

Fog is very widespread across the state. Although most of the fog is light, and there are no dense fog advisories, there are a couple pockets of low visibility in central and southern Minnesota, so drive with caution.

In northeastern Minnesota, where fog has been the thickest the past couple days, it is rain that is reducing visibility in some spots. As of 7 a.m., there is a band of rain cutting north to south across the Arrowhead, then into Wisconsin, and then back through southeastern Minnesota. This includes rain in cities such as Duluth and Rochester, and a few spotty showers on the eastern edge of the Twin Cities. 

Outside of that rain band, there are a few isolated showers, especially in northern Minnesota. The rain in eastern Minnesota will diminish through the morning, but as part of more unsettled weather moving in from the west, northwestern Minnesota will start to see more showers and storms as the day progresses.

By late Friday, some of that rain could make it far enough south to clip the Twin Cities.

Meanwhile, temperatures are still very mild. With almost all of Minnesota in the 50s and 60s Friday morning, many places are seeing morning lows near or even warmer than our average highs for this time of year. Highs will be 5 to 15 degrees above average, with most of the state in the 70s.

The wetter pattern continues into the weekend. 

That extended forecast will be updated around 9 a.m.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.