Warm and humid with a few storms this weekend

The Memorial Day weekend forecast looks like summer.

5 26 sunny
Blue sky and white cumulus clouds over a green landscape in the southwest Twin Cities In May 2017.
Paul Huttner | MPR News 2017

Get ready for a summery weekend in Minnesota. We’ve earned it.

Friday brings bright sunshine and blue skies to Minnesota. Highs will reach the 70s across most of Minnesota with temperatures around 80 degrees in the west.

Forecast high temperatures Friday
Forecast high temperatures Friday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The weather maps look like summer this Memorial Day weekend. Check out the temperature loop from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model between 7 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Monday. You can see the increasingly red air mass pumping temperatures well into the 80s to around 90 by Monday afternoon.

Canadian model temperature animation
Canadian model temperature animation between 7 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Monday
Environment Canada, via Tropical Tidbits

Humid, too

Check out the dew point loop this weekend. You can see the tropical air mass streaming northward with dew points reaching into the upper 60s to near 70 degrees by Sunday evening.

Dew point forecast
Dew point forecast 7 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Sunday
NOAA, via Tropical Tidbits

A few storms

All that heat and humidity is fuel for any passing wave that may trigger thunderstorms. There will be far more dry, sunny hours this weekend than rainy hours. But we’ll have to keep an eye out for a couple of possible passing storm waves.

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has painted a slight risk for severe storms across southwestern Minnesota Saturday, with a marginal (low) risk zone into the Twin Cities.

Severe weather risk areas
Severe weather risk areas Saturday
NOAA

So enjoy a summery holiday weekend. But keep one eye out for possible severe storm watches and warnings at times.

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