Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Snow north, rain south Thursday night; Wednesday’s rare humidity

Our average high temp is 64 degrees this time of year in the Twin Cities metro area. We hit 79 degrees Wednesday afternoon, but we'll barely top 50 degrees Thursday.

Most of northern and central Minnesota will have Thursday afternoon high temps in the 40s.

Temperature trends

Friday highs will reach the 50s in about the southern half of Minnesota, with 40s north:

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There will be a lot of 40s on Saturday, with lower 50s southeast:

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The southern half of Minnesota should reach the 50s on Sunday:

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Twin Cities metro area highs will rise into the lower 60s next Monday and Tuesday.

Rain and snow potential 

Rain showers are expected to move into west-central and southwestern Minnesota late Thursday afternoon, then spread northeastward this Thursday evening.

The rain changes to snow over much of northern Minnesota Thursday night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential rain and snow pattern from Thursday afternoon through Friday evening:

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NOAA NAM simulated radar from Thursday afternoon through Friday evening, via tropicaltidbits

The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of rain or snow.

Parts of northern Minnesota could see 1 to 3 inches of snow overnight into early Friday:

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NWS Duluth

Sections of North Dakota have a winter weather advisory Thursday evening into Friday:

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NWS Grand Forks, N.D.

Fall colors

My wife and I saw some great fall color in the Tofte and Lutsen areas of northeastern Minnesota last weekend.

I hope Wednesday's strong winds didn't take down too many leaves around Minnesota and western Wisconsin!

The latest fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shows quite a bit of fall color in many parts of Minnesota:

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Minnesota DNR

Keep in mind that all deciduous trees are included in the fall color report, not just maples.

Wisconsin fall color report is also available.

Possible tornado

The Twin Cities National Weather Service office indicates that the terminal Doppler radar located to the east of  Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport showed a possible tornado circulation near Woodbury Wednesday evening:

We'll watch for more info from the NWS regarding this event.

Rare October dew points

On Wednesday, the NWS noted that our official Twin Cities dew point hit 70 degrees for a couple of hours:

The MSP airport dew point was also 70 degrees the following hour, giving us a dew point of 70 degrees on three hourly readings between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday:

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NWS Twin Cities

Since 1945 and prior to Wednesday, there was a very short list of 70 degree or higher dew points in October at the MSP airport location:

  • 1962  October 14   3 hours

  • 2005  October 3    2 hours

  • 2007  October 7   4 hours

It's really a rare event to be so humid in October!

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.