Weekend weather: Cooler; highest rain chance Saturday evening into Sunday
Significant rainfall totals are possible
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Most of Minnesota remains in drought, so we could use some rain.
The U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday shows 79.71 percent of Minnesota is now in drought, with 2.89 percent (shaded red) in extreme drought and 30.73 percent (shaded orange) in severe drought:
Moderate drought (shaded beige) covers 46.09 percent of Minnesota. Currently, 20.29 percent of Minnesota (shaded yellow) is abnormally dry but not in drought.
It should be noted that the rainfall data cutoff for the drought analysis is 7 a.m. on Tuesday Aug. 1, so any rainfall since that time is not included in the analysis.
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Large portions of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri also remain in drought:
It’s interesting that most of St. Croix and Pierce counties in western Wisconsin are abnormally dry but not currently in drought. I’ve watched several clusters of thunderstorms move over that area in the past few weeks.
Weekend rain opportunities
Computer models show periods of rain with embedded thunderstorms this weekend, with the highest rain chances in most areas from Saturday evening through Sunday.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible Saturday morning and afternoon, with the potential for more extensive rain coverage in southwestern Minnesota during that time.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 7 a.m. Saturday to 7 p.m. Sunday:
Some forecast models bring two inches or more of rain to southern Minnesota and parts of central and northern Minnesota and western Wisconsin this weekend.
We’ll see if that pans out.
You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. Also check out the MPR News display of National Weather Service radar.
Weekend temps
The average Twin Cities high temperature is 82 degrees on Aug. 5. Metro area highs are forecast to be around 80 degrees on Saturday.
Northwestern and north-central Minnesota plus west-central Wisconsin will see highs in the lower 80s on Saturday, with somewhat cooler temps elsewhere:
Sunday highs will be mainly in the 70s:
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.
