Near record temperatures roll on, storms pause

After a bunch of record high temperatures were broken across Minnesota on Tuesday, we’ve cleared out even faster on Wednesday, and it could end up even hotter in many cases! Much of the coming week will be dry, so expect some drought conditions to expand.

About the only thing to cool folks down on Tuesday was some tiny hail in central Minnesota, concentrated around Brainerd. Thankfully we haven’t seen any local storm reports (this is the term meteorologists use for damaging storms or just unique reports) for anything too serious.

Rain will be at a premium after 5 p.m. Wednesday, largely concentrated at the borders of North and South Dakota, with Minnesota. Most weather maps key in on that area near Big Stone Lake as the most likely spot. A few more rumbles of thunder are possible along the Minnesota and Wisconsin state line, in between St. Paul and Duluth.

For most, the big story (yet again) for Wednesday is the serious heat. This is a reminder to ourselves on the MPR News weather team, but the average high this time of year in the Twin Cities is only 73 degrees. We’d zoomed by that by 9:00 a.m. and we’ll be close to the record of 95 from back in 1969. Many will be in the lower-to-middle 90s! That said, be mindful if you’re taking a dip in some northern waters; there’s a high rip current risk, even a Small Craft Advisory along the shoreline of Superior.

Starting on Thursday, we get a larger impact from an easterly wind coming off of Lake Superior, especially within a 50 mile range of the Great Lake. That would make it marginally cooler, though certainly still pretty warm. Thursday should be dry statewide and in the middle 80s by and large. There could be a very isolated shower or thunderstorm Friday but we’re mostly dry and back into the lower 90s! The same goes for a toasty weekend.

The next large-scale system is likely sometime in the next Wednesday range. The GFS, a longer-range American tool, has storms widespread in Minnesota next Thursday, on June 4. The European map has some storms moving west to east across Minnesota late next Tuesday into Wednesday. If we get that complex of storms somewhere around then, we’d need to watch them for spring severity.

Outside of that next best threat for rain, it’s a largely quiet and warm forecast into the first few weeks of June.