Summery warmth and humidity; thunder chance in some areas
Areas of flooding in northwestern Minnesota, severe weather risk to the north
Happy Fourth of July!
Summery weather is expected all across Minnesota and western Wisconsin this Independence Day. Northwestern Minnesota has the best chance of thunderstorms today, with scattered thunderstorms spreading into parts of north-central Minnesota Saturday afternoon and parts of northeastern Minnesota Saturday evening. Elsewhere in Minnesota (including the Twin Cities) plus western Wisconsin, there could be a few isolated thunderstorms by late Saturday afternoon and early Saturday evening.
Parts of northwestern Minnesota were already seeing thunderstorms Saturday morning, and flash flood warnings were in effect Saturday morning into early afternoon for portions of western Kittson County and part of western Marshall County. Additional flooding is possible in parts of northwestern Minnesota. Updates on the weather in northwestern Minnesota will be posted by the Grand Forks office of the National Weather Service.
The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a slight risk of severe thunderstorms in northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota this Saturday and Saturday night. The slight risk area is shaded yellow in this tweet from the NWS Grand Forks office:
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Slight risk means that scattered severe thunderstorms are possible. An isolated severe thunderstorm is possible later this afternoon and tonight in the dark-green shaded area covering the remainder of northern Minnesota.
You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
A warm and humid July 4th
Our average July 4th high temp is 83 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area. We’ll probably top out in the lower 90s today. Saturday highs will reach the lower 90s in much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, but there’ll be some 80s in northwestern Minnesota and in areas near Lake Superior. Dew points will be in the sticky 60s.
Warm again on Sunday
Sunday highs reach the 80s in about the northern third of Minnesota, with lower 90s elsewhere:
Dew points will be in the 60s:
Northern Minnesota has the best chance of scattered showers and t-storms on Sunday, with some those showers and storms spreading into central and southern Minnesota plus western Wisconsin Sunday evening and overnight Sunday night.
Warmth continues
I don’t see any really cool temps in the next few days. Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach about 90 degrees on Monday, followed by upper 80s Tuesday and lower 90s Wednesday through Friday.
It looks like warm weather will be with us next weekend and into the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for above-normal temps in Minnesota and Wisconsin from July 11 through July 17:
Our air conditioners will be busy for a while.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.