Cooler temps linger through Friday; spotty weekend rain chance

Northwesterly breezes delivered cool and dry air to southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Wednesday. This was the second consecutive day of cool temps in northern Minnesota.

Wednesday afternoon highs were in the 60s across most of northern and western Minnesota, with 70s elsewhere.

The Wednesday high at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 77 degrees. That was 6 degrees below the average July 5 Twin Cities high.

Twin Cities dew points were in the upper 40s by late afternoon. There is now about half as much water in the air as there was Tuesday afternoon, when Twin Cities dew points were in the upper 60s.

Temperature trends

Low temps late Wednesday night into early Thursday will be in the 40s across much of Minnesota as well as northwestern Wisconsin. A few spots in the north could dip into the upper 30s.

Most of the Twin Cities metro area, southeastern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin will have lows in the 50s. Thursday will feature a lot of highs in the 70s:

Parts of northeastern Minnesota will have upper 60s.

Friday highs will also be mainly in the 70s:

Saturday high temps could reach 80 degrees from central Minnesota through the Twin Cities metro area and points to the east and southeast, with mainly 70s elsewhere:

Sunday highs remain in the 70s in northern Minnesota, with 80s to the south:

Rain chances are low

The center of the high-pressure system to our west will move closer on Thursday. That will lighten up our winds and give us dry weather.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale model shows the pressure pattern and the potential rain pattern from 4 a.m. Thursday to 10 p.m. Thursday:

Northwestern Minnesota could see a shower or thunderstorm Friday morning, then there will be a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms in roughly the northern half of Minnesota Friday afternoon and evening.

Southwestern and south-central Minnesota will also have a shower or thunderstorm chance Friday afternoon and evening. One forecast model shows that weather spreading into southeastern Minnesota Friday evening and possibly clipping the southern edge of the Twin Cities metro area.

Saturday looks mostly dry, but an isolated afternoon shower or thunderstorm is possible. A few scattered showers and an isolated thunderstorm will be possible in Minnesota and western Wisconsin Sunday afternoon and evening.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. 

Recap of July 3-4 rainfall

Many areas are either in drought or abnormally dry right now. The July 3 rainfall was mainly in the Dakotas plus western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota.

Here is the rainfall map from 7 a.m. July 3 to 7 a.m. July 4:

Parts of St. Croix County in Wisconsin saw some rain totals of over 3 inches.

The rainfall map from 7 a.m. July 4 to 7 a.m. July 5 shows some meaningful rain in parts of the Twin Cities metro area and portions of western Wisconsin:

The July 4 rainfall total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 57 one-hundredths (.57) of an inch. Parts of the east metro had around 1 inch of rain during the late-morning hours of the Fourth of July.

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.