Lovely Memorial Day weekend continues; Widely scattered thunderstorms west late Monday
Sunday will be warm and dry. Our cloudless skies have given way to high clouds blowing in from a storm system over the Carolinas, well to our southeast. High temperatures across Minnesota and western Wisconsin will be mainly in the low to mid 80s Sunday afternoon. The North Shore will be cooler, courtesy of a breeze off Lake Superior. The Twin Cities should reach around 83 beneath partly cloudy skies and with a light southeast breeze. For comparison, today’s average high temperature for the Twin Cities is 73 while the record high is an oven-ready 100, set in 2018.
Any thunderstorm activity for Sunday should remain to our west over the Dakotas. Any severe weather on Sunday will likely be farther south over the Great Plains.
Wildfire danger
Recent sunny, warm weather and very low dew points have dried out the vegetation across much of Minnesota. Sunday’s warm, dry conditions will lead to an elevated wildfire danger during the afternoon and evening, especially in northwest to central Minnesota where the winds will be stronger. A red flag warning for this elevated risk that fires could spread easily has been posted from noon until 9 p.m. on Sunday.
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Air quality alert
The sunny, warm, dry conditions will cause chemical reactions between volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides in the air to produce ground-level ozone. While ozone high aloft is a good thing that protects us from excessive ultraviolet radiation, ground-level ozone is a health hazard for sensitive people. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued an air quality alert for a large area of central to southeastern Minnesota from noon Sunday until 8 p.m. Monday:
Toasty Memorial Day
Memorial Day will be another warm one with high temperatures mainly in the 80s. The North Shore will enjoy a cooler lake breeze again.
Thunderstorm chances will shift a bit eastward on Monday. Scattered thunderstorms might spread into western Minnesota later in the day but are not likely to become severe.
Scattered thunderstorms after the holiday
Very warm weather and more humidity will be with us for the upcoming workweek.
A rather disorganized weather pattern will drag itself slowly eastward and is likely to rev up scatterings of showers and thunderstorms from Tuesday through the rest of the week. The period of Tuesday night and Wednesday might be our best chance for lawns, gardens and farm fields to get a drink. My backyard rain gauge has measured only about 1.3 inches of rain so far this month.