Helpful rain Friday night, stunning Memorial Day
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Thursday morning’s bank of altocumulus clouds is quickly dissipating, leaving a slightly warmer afternoon with abundant sunshine throughout Minnesota. We have a terrific late May patio evening for you and the family, so I hope you can enjoy the gorgeous weather.
Along with the beauty, there’s an enhanced danger of wildfires spreading — but only if they start, so be careful — around Roseau and Thief River Falls. The relative humidity and wind are coupling to dry out the surface moisture Thursday and into the start of Friday.
Friday is definitely a day of change. Rain is back for much of the state Friday night into Saturday morning. The rain will move from the southwest to the northeast, reaching the North Shore by Saturday.
As of now, the better rain amounts look to be in the southwestern parts of the state. That’s where drought has been strongest.
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The U.S. Drought Monitor report for Minnesota posted Thursday shows a tiny pocket of severe drought in the far southwestern corner, near the South Dakota state line. There’s also an area of moderate drought in north-central Minnesota near the Iron Range.
Point is: this rain should be helpful, but you may not necessarily want it on a holiday weekend.
Saturday brings about temperatures in the upper 60s to near 70 degrees, as the clouds begin to break apart. When we get these May fronts, there’s often a cool wave between 30 to 40 hours after the front. That means that Sunday morning should be a little bit chilly.
Despite that, Sunday should be really warm during the later daylight hours. We make a run at 80 degrees in the Twin Cities, a little cooler farther north.
If you’re heading toward the North Shore or Boundary Waters, Mesabi Trail or wherever your crew goes, you will still want a jacket for evening warmth, but it’s not cold.
Memorial Day
Then we’re onto Memorial Day. This looks to be a real transition day for a big-time warmup on the calendar to last quite a while. We are even pushing 90 degrees in far southern Minnesota, along the Iowa border.
That said, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast model do show a couple of pop-up storms in southern Minnesota late Sunday night into Monday morning.
Right now, that looks to be a small threat but we’ll continue to watch.
Much of next week should be really warm and mostly dry. The next potent rainmaker potential is later next Saturday, May 30.
