A summery and windy Sunday; thundery at times Sun. night and Monday
Fall color update for leaf-peepers
Meteorological summer ended on August 31. Astronomical summer doesn’t end until Wednesday, so today’s summery temps and dew points may still be appropriate.
Sunday afternoon highs will be in the 80s across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, with dew points in the summery 60s. Sunday highs in the Twin Cities metro area are forecast to reach the upper 80s, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a stray 90. Our average Twin Cities high is 72 degrees this time of year.
It’ll be a windy Sunday afternoon, with winds gusting to about 30 mph at times. Parts of western and northern Minnesota could see a few gusts of 35 to 40 mph.
Rain chances?
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The daylight hours of Sunday will be dry in most areas. There’s a chance scattered showers and thunderstorms late this Sunday afternoon and this evening in northwestern Minnesota and north-central Minnesota. That shower/t-storm chance spreads to the south and east overnight Sunday night. Some thunderstorms could arrive in the Twin Cities by 6 or 7 a.m. on Monday….check forecast updates.
Portions of western and northern Minnesota could see an isolated severe thunderstorm anytime from late Sunday afternoon through Sunday evening and overnight :
The potential for isolated severe thunderstorms spreads eastward Sunday night:
The NWS Storm Prediction Center will update the severe weather outlook Sunday afternoon.
You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have periods of showers and thunderstorms Monday and Monday evening, with an isolated severe thunderstorm possible in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from midnight Sunday night through 9 p.m. on Monday:
Temperature trends
Monday highs will be in the 60s in western Minnesota, with 70s to the east:
Our Twin Cities high temp will probably happen Monday morning, with 60s moving into the metro area by Monday afternoon.
Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be in the mid 60s Tuesday, followed by upper 60s Wednesday then around 70 on Thursday and Friday.
Fall color update
Our peak fall colors don’t typically arrive in the Twin Cities metro area until sometime in October.
Impressive fall colors are already popping in parts of northern Minnesota. Here’s the Saturday fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:
The areas that are shaded yellow are showing the most changeover to fall colors at this point. Keep in mind that all deciduous trees are included in the fall color report, not just maples.
Most of the 25-50 percent fall color coverage is in northern Minnesota, but there is an area of significant fall color from south-central Sibley County through parts of Nicollet, Brown and Watonwan counties.
It’ll be interesting to watch how our fall colors spread across Minnesota over next two to three weeks! Find more details on parks to visit here.
Wisconsin fall color info can be found here.
Weather nugget
The last time that our official Twin Cities high temp hit 90 degrees or warmer was on August 23. We’ve seen 26 days this year with highs of 90 or warmer at MSP airport. We average just 13 days per year with highs of 90 or warmer in the Twin Cities.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.