Some showers, thunderstorms and much warmer Friday into the weekend

Updated 9:50 a.m.

With much warmer and more humid air Friday we’ll have scattered showers and thunderstorms around. Highs will be near 80 south to the 60s north. The weekend will be very warm also.

Warmer with showers, thunderstorms possible

Much warmer and more humid air has been surging northward. That combined with an upper-level disturbance is touching off some showers and thunderstorms Friday morning and potentially again later in the day and overnight.

So far, we’ve seen anywhere from 1 to as much as 3 or more inches in some places. Hanover, in far northwestern Hennepin County has seen more than 3 inches, according to radar estimates.

Afternoon and evening redevelopment is likely in western, central and northern Minnesota and that activity will track east overnight Friday night. There could be some lingering activity into early Saturday.

There’s even a marginal risk (level 1 of 5) of severe weather later in the day Friday.

There’s also a flood watch for the Duluth area where they’ve seen more than 10 inches of rain already this month. The potential for one or two more inches of rain tonight could cause flooding concerns. The watch is in effect 10 p.m. Friday through 10 a.m. Saturday.

Southern Minnesota will see more sunshine and highs near or above 80 degrees. Northern Minnesota will be cooler, in the 60s where there will be more clouds and scattered showers. These high temperatures will be 10 to 15 degrees above normal in southern Minnesota.

Saturday will be even warmer with highs into the low to mid-80s in southern Minnesota with 60s and 70s north. We should see a bit more sunshine but there will also be a lingering chance of thunderstorms.

The very warm temperatures persist into early next week before rain and a big drop in temperatures comes later next week.