Severe storms possible up north Friday night; extreme weekend heat ahead
Next week is cooler and wet
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Conditions will become steamy Friday. Severe storms are possible overnight north. Extreme heat builds in for Saturday and Sunday.
Severe storms north Friday night as heat and humidity surge
After some severe storms overnight in western Minnesota, things will be quiet during the day Friday with partly cloudy skies and steamy conditions building.
Highs will be in the 80s across central and southern Minnesota with low to mid-90s in southwestern Minnesota Friday afternoon. Afternoon heat indices will already be near 100-degrees in southwestern Minnesota Friday.
The risk of severe storms Friday night shifts a bit north for the northern half of Minnesota. An enhanced risk (level 3 of 5) is forecast in those areas.
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In particular, we’re concerned for an initial tornado threat in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota as discrete supercells could develop in the evening hours Friday.
Those storms then look to merge into potentially a couple of bow echoes, producing large hail and severe wind gusts across northern Minnesota into the early morning hours Saturday.
On the map below, check out the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model forecast for wind gusts overnight Friday night. You can see the red areas (severe wind gusts of 60 mph+) sweeping across northern Minnesota.
Storms will develop in North Dakota first late this afternoon and evening and continue through northern Minnesota well after midnight into the Duluth area by perhaps 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. early Saturday and should exit in time for Grandma’s Marathon.
After Friday night, the focus is on the weekend heat. Highs Saturday and Sunday will be in the 90s across central and southern Minnesota with southwestern Minnesota potentially reaching 100 degrees!
The combination of temperatures in the 90s and dew points in the 70s will create extreme heat. The heat index in the afternoons will range from 100 to 110 degrees potentially across southern Minnesota.
There’s a heat advisory posted for the weekend across a large chunk of the state.
A cool front will start to touch off storms late Sunday in northwestern Minnesota and across the rest of the state Monday.
We’re in for a cooler and wetter midweek next week with highs in the 70s and 60s and several rounds of rain, thunder that could add up to significant additional rainfall.
