Updraft®

Snow showers north, windy statewide; warmer next week

Sunshine for southern Minnesota Thursday

gusts THU 8a
Forecast max wind gusts Thursday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via Pivotal Weather

Northern Minnesota will see snow showers while southern Minnesota sees sunshine. It will be windy statewide as cool air sets in. Next week will be substantially warmer.

Windy Thursday with sun south, snow showers north

Winds continue to howl Thursday as cooler air settles in across Minnesota. Wind gusts have been as high as 44 mph at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Sustained wind speeds will be at 15 to 25 mph from the west and northwest. Winds will subside some Friday.

winds THU-FRI
Forecast wind gusts 7 a.m. Thursday through 12 p.m. Friday
College of DuPage weather lab

Southern Minnesota will see sunshine most of Thursday while northern Minnesota sees cloud cover. Those clouds will attempt to fill in across central Minnesota as well.

In those clouds, scattered snow showers will persist through the day in northern Minnesota. Light accumulations are likely up to 1 inch with isolated 2-inch amounts closer to the international border.

MN snow 8a
Forecast snowfall Thursday into Friday
National Weather Service

Cooler few days ahead

Thursday through Saturday will be cooler with normal or below normal temperatures. Highs Thursday will still be in the mid to upper 40s in southern Minnesota thanks to the sun while temps will hover only around freezing in northern Minnesota.

thu hi 8a
Forecast highs Thursday
National Weather Service

Thursday night will bring subfreezing lows for most of the state into early Friday morning.

thu nt
Forecast lows Thursday night
National Weather Service

Friday’s high temperatures will be colder with just low 40s south to low 30s north.

Fri hi 8a
Forecast highs Friday
National Weather Service

Substantial warmup for next week

After a cooler upper-level pattern through Saturday, a large upper-level high pressure dome of warmth builds in for next week. Temperatures will be 20 degrees above normal by midweek.

500 pattern
The map shows the forecast upper-level pattern Thursday into Tuesday as a high-pressure dome of warmth builds in.
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Forecast highs Tuesday should reach 60 degrees in southern Minnesota and it’s possible we reach that Wednesday and even Thursday also.

TUE hi 8a
Forecast highs next Tuesday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Minor changes in latest MN drought report

The latest drought monitor shows little change from a week ago.

Forty-four percent of Minnesota remains in at least moderate drought and severe drought still hangs onto central and northwestern Minnesota but is down from 21 percent to 18 percent this week. One-tenth of Minnesota isn’t even abnormally dry, primarily northeastern Minnesota.

drought 11-09
The latest drought monitor for Minnesota with data valid through Nov. 7
National Drought Mitigation Center