Weekend forecast: Quiet weather, summery temps
Updated drought monitor map
We’re expecting typical summery weather this Saturday and Sunday. Most areas will be rain-free, but parts of northeastern Minnesota could see a passing shower or thunderstorm Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.
Temperatures and dew points
Our average Twin Cities high temp is 81 degrees on Aug. 13. We’re looking at metro area highs in the low to mid 80s this Saturday. Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have Saturday highs in the 80s, with 70s in northeastern Minnesota:
Saturday afternoon dew points will be a bit sticky, in the 60s:
Sunday highs will once again be mainly in the 80s, with 70s in northeastern Minnesota:
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Sunday afternoon dew points will be in the 60s in most areas, with drier 50s in northeastern Minnesota:
Drought update
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report shows severe drought continues over the central part of the Twin Cities metro area plus much of the south metro:
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor website:
The Drought Monitor has been a team effort since its inception in 1999, produced jointly by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The drought report is posted each Thursday, and includes rainfall data through 7 a.m. Tuesday.
You may wonder why severe drought continues in much of the Twin Cities metro area even though we saw some pretty good rainfall totals last weekend. That’s because we average about 1 inch of rain per week in the summer, and we’ve been running quite a rain deficit.
Even though our August rainfall total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was running very slightly above normal through Wednesday, it’s still 6.28 inches below normal since June 1.
I hope that the forecast models are correct, and we have some meaningful rain in the Twin Cities metro area late Thursday night into Friday morning.
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.