Patchy morning fog, another warm day ahead

Afternoon temperatures topped out in the 80s in most locations in Minnesota on Monday.  Today will bring a repeat of above-normal readings.  Lighter winds will not offset the moderately high dew points in southern Minnesota today.

High temperatures this afternoon should be reached around 3:30 p.m.

In the heart of summer, maximum temperatures on sunny days can occur as late as 5 p.m. Now, with the shorter daylight hours, we look for the warmest readings of the day to be registered around mid-afternoon.

Northern Minnesota is draped in dense fog this morning, with the visibility below a quarter mile at Bemidji.  Once the fog burns off temperatures should climb steadily and there will be a noticeable difference in the dew points from north to south.

Winds are expected to be much lighter across the state today. Some wind gusts were measured near 30 mph on Monday afternoon.

There are small chances for scattered thunderstorms later tonight through Thursday across southern Minnesota.  A broad brush of 25 to 30 percent precipitation probabilities is painted from the Twins Cities through Rochester, Minn., to La Crosse, Wis.

We closed out the meteorological summer on a temperature high, but overall, the average temperatures clustered near or somewhat below the 30-year average.

Duluth had a stretch of three days in the middle of August with maximum  temperatures of 90 degrees or greater.  This was a big part of giving them an average temperature  of one degree above normal.

Here's a summary of selected cities for the meteorological summer of 2015 from the Twin Cities National Weather Service Office.

While Duluth recorded three days of 90 degrees or greater, the warmest reading for August 2015 in Rochester was on 86 degrees on the 14th. On the same day, La Crosse topped out at 95 degrees.

As Bill noted yesterday, look for a noticeable drop in temperatures as we reach Labor Day.