Comfortable on Sunday; 80s this coming week, with upper 80s on Friday

It was nice to crack open the windows Saturday and let in some fresh air. The steamy heat of this past week is gone, replaced by cooler and much less humid air.

The Saturday high temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 75 degrees. That’s a few degrees shy of the Twin Cities average high for this date, which is 79 degrees. It felt great to be mowing the lawn in the comfortable afternoon breezes.

Winds will lighten up overnight, and there could be some areas of fog late Saturday night into early Sunday.

Temperature trends

Sunday high temperatures will be in the 70s across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin:

Southwestern Minnesota will see a few lower 80s. There could be some 60s in the portions of Lake County and Cook County that are closest to Lake Superior.

Sunday afternoon dew points will be in the comfortable 50s:

Dew points in the very dry 40s are expected in northeastern Minnesota Sunday afternoon.

Monday high temps reach the 80s in most of southern and central Minnesota, with 70s to the north:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 80s on Tuesday, then around 80 degrees on Wednesday followed by mid 80s Thursday and upper 80s on Friday.

Above-normal temperatures could then linger into the start of the following week, according to the September 1 through September 5 temperature outlook from the NWS Climate Prediction Center:

Shower chance north on Sunday

Some spots in far northern Minnesota could see a passing shower on Sunday. That shower chance may expand into parts of central Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin Sunday evening.

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

90s have been rare at the Minnesota State Fair

The official Twin Cities high temperature (measured at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport) was 91 degrees on Friday.

Why am I mentioning that fact? It’s because it was the first official Twin Cities high temp of 90 degrees or warmer during the Minnesota State Fair since 2013.

A few years ago, the Minnesota State Climatology Office posted some interesting facts about Minnesota State Fair weather.

Here’s an excerpt from that post:

Although a wide variety of weather has greeted Fair-goers over the years, it's the late-summer heat waves that are perhaps most memorable. By far the highest temperature in the Fair's history was 104 degrees F, on September 10, 1931. In fact, the second-highest temperature ever recorded during the Fair was 99 F, notched the same year but two days earlier. Not surprisingly, the 1931 Fair is the current record-holder for high temperatures, averaging 92.6 F, which is 2.7 F higher than the runner-up (1922). It is worth noting that the 1931 Fair ran eight days, from September 5-12, whereas the Fair currently runs 12 days, making it less likely to sustain such high temperatures over that longer period. On the other hand, 1931's record is even more impressive considering that the entire Fair took place during September, when extremes of heat become increasing rare.

Recent steamy State Fair conditions were experienced during 2013, which was the third warmest on record and also had a record six days with 90-degree high temperatures. 2012 was quite warm as well, with an average daily maximum temperature of 87.1 degrees. The last six State Fairs, however (2014 through 2019), generally have lacked hot weather, with no 90-degree high temperatures recorded in any of those years. There wasn't even an 80 degree maximum temperature in 2019.

A check of Twin Cities high temps during the Minnesota State Fair for the past few years shows that the official Twin Cities high temp didn’t reach 90 degrees or warmer until this past Friday.

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.