Steamy and stormy: Tropical heat and moisture with occasional thunder this week

I’m declaring root beer float week in Minnesota. Or as Steely Dan would say, black cow week.

A hot steamy summer air mass is bubbling north into Minnesota this week. We could tickle 3 to 4 90-degree days top our running total of 9 days so far this year by Sunday. That should bring us to the annual average of about 11 days per year of 90-degree heat in the Twin Cities.

Steamy tropical dew points in the 70s could push to 80 degrees in southwest Minnesota.

Highs Tuesday will approach 90 degrees in much of southwest and southern Minnesota.

Occasional storms

Our steamy air mass will be ripe for occasional thunderstorm clusters this week. The next two waves look likely to favors the northern half of Minnesota in the wee small hours Tuesday and again Wednesday morning.

The Twin Cities could get clipped by a stray storms the next couple days, but NOAA’s HRRR mode is among the consensus that favors areas north of MSP for the most likely storm zone until Wednesday.

The forecast model loop below runs between 1 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday.

A slight risk for severe storms covers most of central and northern Minnesota Tuesday. Here’s the view from the Grand Forks NWS office.

Here’s the risk zone coverage from Duluth.

In between storms we’ll enjoy plenty of hazy, hot, and humid sunshine this week.

Enjoy peak summer in Minnesota!