Bright and warmer to start the week; Wednesday shower chance
Plus, fall color update for leaf-peepers
It was a gorgeous Sunday, with sunshine and highs well into the 60s. Some spots in west-central and southwestern Minnesota had highs in the 70s.
The Sunday high at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 69 degrees; that’s 11 degrees warmer than our average Twin Cities high on Oct. 17.
Temperature trends
Monday highs reach the 70s in many areas:
Winds will be gusting over 20 mph in parts of western Minnesota Monday afternoon:
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Forecast wind gusts are in knots, with 20 knots equal to 23 mph.
Back to forecast highs, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 70s Tuesday, followed by mid-60s Wednesday. It’ be even cooler to end the week, with highs in the lower 50s Thursday and Friday.
Next weekend could feature near-normal temps, with above normal temps the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for above-normal temps in Minnesota and western Wisconsin from Oct. 25 through Oct. 31:
Next rain chance?
A low pressure system will give us some areas of showers in Minnesota and western Wisconsin Wednesday and Wednesday night. A thunderstorm is also possible.
NOAA’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern Wednesday and Wednesday evening:
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 colors
The latest fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shows colors past peak in the dark-red shaded areas of Minnesota:
The percentage of changeover to fall colors is between 75 percent and 100 percent in the medium-red shaded areas, including parts of the west metro.
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.
Weather nugget
The 70s on Monday will be much warmer than our average highs this time of year. Just imagine a string of 80s; the Twin Cities had highs in the 80s from Oct. 14 through Oct. 21 of 1953:
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.