Possible weekend sprinkles, showers; mild temps into early next week

Temps will be in the 50s for the start of the Twin Cities Marathon Sunday

It’s Oct. 1! New Year’s Day is just three months away. I know, it’s too early for such talk.

October is beginning on a mild note, with above-normal temps in many areas. Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 66 degrees on Oct. 1. Some spots in the metro area will top 70 degrees Saturday afternoon.

Many locations in the southern third of Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin are expected to reach the lower 70s. Parts of southwestern Minnesota could see highs in the mid to upper 70s.

Low temperatures late Saturday night into early Sunday morning will be in the 50s across much of central and southern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin:

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Forecast lows early Sunday morning
National Weather Service

Northern Minnesota will see a lot of 40s.

Temps will be in the 50s for the start of the Twin Cities Marathon Sunday morning, then temps rise into the 60s by around 11 a.m. Sunday.

Sunday highs will top 70 degrees in roughly the southwestern half of Minnesota and parts of the Twin Cities metro area:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Highs will be mainly in the 60s elsewhere, with some 50s in northeastern Minnesota.

Looking ahead to the work week, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 70s on Monday and Tuesday, then around 70 on Wednesday. Much cooler air rushes in later in the week, with metro area highs in the lower 50s Thursday and around 50 on Friday.

We might end up with more warmer than normal days than cool days in October. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for above-normal temps in Minnesota and western Wisconsin this month:

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October temperature outlook
NWS Climate Prediction Center

Rain chances this weekend?

We’ll have dry weather most of the time this weekend, but occasional spotty showers and sprinkles are possible in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

There’s fairly dry air in the lowest part of atmosphere today, so some of the rain that’s showing up on radar is evaporating before reaching the ground. You can check the MPR interactive radar here.

New computer model info shows that the Sunday shower-sprinkle chance will be primarily in central and northern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.

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.

Fall color update

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.

I saw great fall colors ten days ago in Minnesota’s Arrowhead region along the Sawtooth Mountains inland from Lutsen and Tofte. I’m sure those fall colors have expanded to include many more areas since then.

The Wisconsin fall color report can be found here.

Weather nuggets

  • Our official Twin Cities September rainfall total, measured at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was just twenty-four-hundredths of an inch. We just completed the driest September in Twin Cities weather records, breaking the old record of twenty-seven-hundredths of an inch, which was set in 1882.

  • Our average Twin Cities temperature in September (which is the average of all the daily high temps and low temps) was 2.5 degrees warmer than normal. September was our fifth consecutive warmer than normal month in the Twin Cities.

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.