Showers south Thursday; warming trend continues

Scattered showers will brush across the southern quarter of Minnesota on Thursday with more clouds than the north. Highs will be warmer in northern Minnesota in the mid to upper 60s.

Showers for far southern Minnesota

There will be more clouds across southern Minnesota than northern Minnesota Thursday as a system brings some showers to the southern counties of the state.

High temperatures will be cooler south and warmer north for a rare change as a result.

Summer heat and storms build in next week

Saturday will be a gorgeous spring day with highs near 70 in the south and well into the 60s for most, with the exception of right near Lake Superior. We’ll also have lots of sunshine.

Mother’s Day brings unsettled weather with some showers and thunderstorms. The best chance of activity will be in the west.

We’re still looking at temperatures well into the 80s much of next week and 90 degrees is still a definite possibility along with much more humid conditions. About one-third of the models push us to 90 at some point next week.

The chance of strong storms also increases along with the heat and humidity. We’re keeping an eye on late Monday in particular for possible severe weather.

Northern MN ice-out for fishing opener?

We’re just nine days from the Minnesota fishing opener and most northeastern Minnesota lakes still have ice cover. Thanks to some clear skies in recent days we can clearly see from space that bright white ice on those lakes.

Despite the chilly spring, ice-out has been marching along slowly south to north. Most lakes have been just a few days behind to as much as a week or two behind schedule.

The push of summer heat next week will almost certainly knock the ice out of those remaining lakes assuring that the record latest ice outs that range from May 17 to May 23 remain in place.