Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

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There’s talk of 100 degrees this week in the Twin Cities. 

Forecast models are pushing temperatures close to the century mark across southern Minnesota Wednesday and Thursday. Most of us will probably end up between 95 and 99 degrees for peak temperatures this week. 

Right now Thursday looks like the most favorable day to tickle the 100-degree mark in the Twin Cities. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

 is cranking out 99 degrees Thursday afternoon at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (see map above).

Wednesday will be no bargain either. Highs will push toward the mid to upper 90s across southern and western Minnesota, with more tolerable 80s up north. 

Let’s face if, it gets hot and humid pretty much every summer in Minnesota for a few days to weeks. And as of this post, we’ve already hit 93 degrees at MSP airport Tuesday afternoon. 

This is the 17th day of 90 degrees in the Twin Cities this year. That’s well above the annual average of 13 days. We’ll likely hit the 20-day mark by Friday afternoon.

But reaching 100 degrees in the Twin Cities is more rare than you might think. Looking at records that date back to 1873, the Twin Cities reaches 90 degrees about every four to five years on average. 

MSP airport hit 101 last year on June 20. The last two times the Twin Cities hit 100 degrees before that were 2018 and 2012. 

climatology of 100-degree temperatures in the Twin Cities

 from the Minnesota Climate Working Group. 

Storms likely in southern MN Tuesday night

The next storm chances favor southern Minnesota, mainly south of the Twin Cities, overnight into Wednesday morning. 

NOAA’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System 3 km model develops a potential line of storms that is most likely to race from western Minnesota later this evening to southern Minnesota after midnight. 

A few models suggest a storm at the northern end of this complex could clip the Twin Cities, but most of the activity will roll south of MSP airport. 

There is a slight risk for severe storms through Tuesday night across western and southern Minnesota. A marginal risk runs eastward into parts of the Twin Cities. 

Keep an eye out for possible warnings Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning especially west and south of the greater Twin Cities area. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Forecast models are pushing temperatures close to the century mark across southern Minnesota Wednesday and Thursday, but 100 degrees in the Twin Cities does not typically occur every year.

How rare is 100 degrees in the Twin Cities?

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