Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Very humid with periodic thunderstorm chances

Temperatures could be near 90 degrees to start the weekend

spcTHU901
Severe weather outlook for Thursday into Thursday night
Iowa Environmental Mesonet / Iowa State University

Very humid air is moving back in and that will touch off some thunderstorm activity Thursday into early Friday. The weekend will be hot and humid with a periodic thunderstorm.

Humid air and periodic thunderstorm chances

Thursday into Thursday night will be unsettled at times thanks to heat and humidity and our latest upper level disturbance moving through the region.

We’ll have spotty showers and storms this morning in southeastern Minnesota with more isolated activity in the Twin Cities potentially at any point in the day.

More organized storms will develop in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota late Thursday into the overnight.

pr909
Forecast precipitation 7 a.m. Thursday through 7 a.m. Friday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via Pivotal Weather

Storms that do develop could turn strong or severe due to the high amounts of moisture. There’s a slight risk (level 2 of 5) of severe storms Thursday into Thursday night for northwestern and north-central Minnesota and a marginal (level 1 of 5) risk elsewhere.

The main potential threats will be from high wind gusts and large hail.

spcTHU901
Severe weather outlook for Thursday into Thursday night
Iowa Environmental Mesonet / Iowa State University

Very humid air is also moving in Thursday, destabilizing our atmosphere and sticking around for most of the holiday weekend. We’ll see dew points in the 70s across much of southern and even central Minnesota Thursday into the weekend.

dews1025
Forecast dew points early Thursday through late Saturday
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

Highs Thursday afternoon will get toasty for some. We’ll see highs well into the 80s with some 90-degree readings in western Minnesota.

thu1026
Forecast highs Thursday
National Weather Service

Hot holiday weekend, periodic storms possible

The weekend looks hot as well with highs near 90 to start and at least 80s Sunday and Labor Day. We cannot guarantee a dry weekend.

ndfd900
Forecast high and low temperatures for the Twin Cities
NOAA, via WeatherBell Analytics

There will be a periodic thunderstorm, but timing and placing them will be difficult until 24 hours in advance, but no one day looks like a washout.

As of Thursday morning, the best chances appear to be overnight Saturday night and Sunday night with better chances of more widespread storms developing Labor Day into Tuesday morning.

fr-tu856
Forecast precipitation 7 p.m. Friday through 1 p.m. Tuesday
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

We could see some decent rainfall for much of central and northern Minnesota over the next several days. A widespread 1 to 2 inches of rainfall is possible with much of that coming late Sunday into Monday night.

wpc120
Forecast total rainfall through early Tuesday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather