Weekend weather: Mainly dry; shower chance Saturday in NE Minnesota
Drought worsens in Minnesota
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Much of northwestern Minnesota and parts of west-central and north-central Minnesota will see rain at times Thursday afternoon, with a few thunderstorms possible.
Rain and scattered thunderstorm coverage expands into the remainder of Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin Thursday evening and overnight Thursday night.
A lingering shower is possible Friday morning in the Twin Cities metro area, southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
Weekend looks mainly dry
Saturday and Sunday look rain-free across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
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Northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin could see a few scattered showers on Saturday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 4 a.m. Saturday to 7 p.m. Saturday:
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 73 degrees on Sept. 16. Metro area highs are forecast to reach the lower 70s on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon high temps will also be in the lower 70s across southern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin:
Northern Minnesota will see a lot of 60s.
Sunday highs reach the lower 70s in the Red River Valley and in much of central and southern Minnesota:
Drought covers nearly all of Minnesota now
Our drought continues. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report shows 98.58 percent of Minnesota in drought:
That’s an increase of 13.51 percent from last week’s 85.07 percent drought coverage in Minnesota.
There are some areas of exceptional drought (shaded dark red). One of those areas is from eastern Aitkin County into Carlton County and another area of exceptional drought is from eastern Freeborn County into portions of Mower County.
Medium-red shaded areas are in extreme drought. Orange-shaded areas (including most of the Twin Cities metro area) are in severe drought.
In the table that’s included with the map, the box under each color includes stats for that drought category plus stats for areas with worse drought conditions. For instance, the box under orange includes the percentage of Minnesota that is in severe drought plus the percentages for areas in extreme and exceptional drought.
I broke down the percentages of Minnesota for each drought category:
1.4 percent in exceptional drought
17.81 percent in extreme drought
42.32 percent in severe drought
37.05 percent in moderate drought
1.42 percent abnormally dry (but not in drought)
The rainfall data cutoff for the weekly drought report is 7 a.m. Tuesday.
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.
