A summery Fourth of July weekend; scattered showers and thunderstorms at times
Saturday will be the coolest day
Friday was a gorgeous summer day, with plenty of sunshine. The high temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 86 degrees, which is three degrees above our average high for this date. Dew points were in the very comfortable upper 40s much of Friday afternoon.
Temperatures will retreat slightly on Saturday, then our temps will rebound nicely.
Holiday weekend temps
Saturday highs will be in the 70s in many areas, but a few spots in the metro area, southern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin could top 80.
Saturday afternoon dew points will be in the comfortable 40s to lower 50s in most locations, with muggier 60s in southwestern Minnesota.
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Back to forecast highs, many areas will reach the 80s Sunday afternoon, with some 70s in far northern Minnesota.
There could be a few upper 60s up along the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Monday highs will be in the 80s in most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, with 70s in roughly the northern third of Minnesota.
Monday afternoon dew points could reach the steamy lower 70s in much of central and southern Minnesota.
Rain chances
Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have a chance of occasional, scattered showers and thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday. Some longer-lasting rain is possible early on Monday. Any given location will have many more dry hours than wet hours this holiday weekend.
On Saturday, the best chances of showers and thunderstorms will be in the southern half of Minnesota and also in west central and southwestern Wisconsin…especially Saturday morning and early afternoon. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible on Sunday, especially in the afternoon and evening.
A more organized area of showers and thunderstorms could sweep across Minnesota and western Wisconsin overnight Sunday night and during the morning hours of Monday. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will be possible Monday afternoon and evening.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 7 p.m. on Sunday to 10 a.m. Monday.
Forecast models will fine tune that Sunday night and Monday morning rain potential this weekend.
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.
Weather nugget
The official June rainfall total at MSP airport was just 1.13 inches. That’s 3.45 inches below our average June rainfall total.
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.