Sunshine, windy by afternoon
We topped out at 72 degrees in the Twin Cities on Saturday, which is a couple of degrees below average.
We'll do better than that today!
A low pressure system will strengthen over the Dakotas today, and drift eastward:
Southerly winds will increase over Minnesota this afternoon, ahead of the low pressure system. We're expecting plenty of Sunday sunshine, with highs in the mid to upper 70s over much of Minnesota:
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Some spots in the Twin Cities could hit 78, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few spots in southwestern Minnesota top 80.
Northeastern Minnesota will have the coolest highs today, in the lower 70s.
Monday rain chance
A cold front moves through Minnesota on Monday, so northwestern Minnesota will only see highs in the 60s. Southeastern Minnesota will have some 70s.
The cold front could spawn some showers and isolated thunderstorms, especially Monday afternoon and Monday night.
The National Weather Service North American Mesoscale Forecast System model shows that the most numerous showers are expected over southern Minnesota Monday afternoon and evening:
The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms Monday and Monday night over parts of Iowa, with general/non-severe thunderstorm possibilities over Minnesota:
Cool Tuesday and Wednesday
Cool Canadian high pressure settles over Minnesota on Tuesday, and lingers into Wednesday.
Highs in the 60s are on tap for southern and central Minnesota on Tuesday:
Parts of northern Minnesota will see highs in the 50s.
Similar highs are expected on Wednesday, then temps rebound a bit for Thursday and Friday.
The coldest low temps this week will be Wednesday morning.
Some spots in northern and central Minnesota could see Wednesday morning lows in the 30s:
Earlier sunsets
Many of us will be busy watching Vikings football until 3:30 or so this afternoon.
Sunset today is 7:30 p.m. CDT, so we'll have about 4 hours of daylight after the final play of the game. That's a good chunk of time to enjoy our beautiful weather!
As the football season continues, we'll have less daylight after the games.
On Sunday October 9, sunset is 6:38 p.m. CDT.
By Sunday November 6, the sun sets at 4:54 p.m. CST .... daylight saving time ends that morning.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates at 7:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday on Minnesota Public Radio.