Quiet weekend weather in most areas; no 90s in sight this week

Rain chances in far northern Minnesota Sunday afternoon and evening

If you have outdoor activities in Minnesota or western Wisconsin this afternoon, you won’t be interrupted by thunderstorms.

Much of Sunday will be thunderstorm-free as well. Portions of north-central and northeastern Minnesota could see a few scattered showers and thunderstorms Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.

NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid-Refresh (HRRR) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from noon Sunday to 11 p.m. Sunday:

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Simulated radar from noon Sunday to 11 p.m. Sunday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

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.

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Temperature trends

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 81 degrees on August 13. We’re looking at metro area highs late Saturday afternoon mainly in the upper 70s, but a few spots in the metro area could briefly touch 80. Parts of far southern Minnesota will reach the lower 80s, but most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have Saturday highs in the 70s. Some spots near Lake Superior will top out in the 60s.

Sunday highs will be around 80 in western and southern Minnesota, with 70s elsewhere:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday afternoon dew points will be in the lower 60s in many areas:

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Sunday 1 p.m. forecast dew points
National Weather Service

Back to forecast high temps, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 80s each day of this coming week. We’ll have a chance of an afternoon/evening shower or thunderstorm Tuesday and Wednesday, and a chance of scattered showers/thunderstorms anytime on Thursday.

Looking ahead a bit, we could see somewhat warmer temps next weekend and into the beginning of the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for above-normal temps in much of the upper Midwest from August 20 through August 26:

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Temperature outlook August 20 to August 26
NWS Climate Prediction Center

Weather nugget

MSP airport tallied .95 of an inch of rain on Friday. If you combine Friday’s rain total with the 1.34 inches of rain tallied at MSP airport last weekend, it adds up to 2.29 inches.  MSP airport saw just 2.31 inches of rainfall in the months of June and July combined. 

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.