Weekend weather: Mild temps, mostly dry; fall color spreads up north

Rain-free weekend likely for most of Minnesota, western Wisconsin

This is the time of year that some people venture out to look at fall colors.

I saw great fall colors in Minnesota’s Arrowhead region last week along the Sawtooth Mountains inland from Lutsen and Tofte. I suspect that those brilliant fall colors have spread to some lower elevations since then.

Here’s a fall color pic from northern Minnesota that was posted by Mike Shaw last Sunday:

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fall color report for Minnesota State Parks and Trails looks like this:

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Fall color report
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

When you look at fall color maps, keep in mind that all deciduous trees are included. The maples can be peaking when the overall changeover to fall color is less than 50 percent in a given area.

A Wisconsin fall color report can be found here.

Weekend temps

October begins on Saturday. Most of northern and central Minnesota will have Saturday morning lows in the 40s, with lows in the lower 50s in the south:

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Forecast lows early Saturday morning
National Weather Service

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 66 degrees on Oct. 1. Many spots in the metro area will top 70 degrees Saturday afternoon and some spots in southwestern Minnesota will reach the mid to upper 70s:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Northern Minnesota will have Saturday afternoon highs in the 60s and upper 50s.

Low temperatures late Saturday night into early Sunday morning will be in the 40s in many areas, with lower 50s in much of the Twin Cities metro area and parts of western Minnesota:

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Forecast lows early Sunday morning
National Weather Service

Sunday highs will reach the 60s in many areas, with 70s in southwestern and west-central Minnesota:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Some spots in the metro area could touch 70 on Sunday, and there will be a few 50s near Lake Superior.

Rain chances?

It looks like a rain-free weekend in most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Forecast models hint at the chance of a few spotty, brief showers early Saturday and also late Saturday into Saturday night.

We have updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and on the MPR News live weather blog.

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. Saturday and Sunday.