We will be getting warmer and muggier later this week. Look for storms over the weekend.
This afternoon was just about perfect for those of us not too fond of temperatures in the the 90s. Highs statewide were mainly upper 70s to 80s with dewpoints in the upper 40s to low 50s. The radar screen has had a lazy afternoon except for picking up a few isolated showers slipping southwestward across southwestern Minnesota around Worthington.
The heat is still on in the West. Temperatures are climbing above 100 from Arizona to eastern Washington again today. Even before this heat wave it was abnormally toasty in the Southwest. Phoenix had an average daily high temperature of 108.4 degrees for the month of June, their second warmest on record, and zero rain. Now, that's dry.
The good news out west is that the heat wave should begin to weaken this week, mainly after Wednesday.
The weather pattern across the U.S. is not moving eastward as normal but is either remaining stationary or is retrogressing. That is the case of the surface low pressure over the Ohio River Valley that is making an unusual slow move to the northwest toward Chicago with clouds and rain.
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The low over the central U.S. will continue to pump ample moisture into the eastern states. Because the weather systems are not advancing toward the Atlantic, Flood Watches, Flash Flood Watches and some Warnings have been issued from Florida to New Hampshire. Tomorrow promises to be another soggy day for the Southeast from Florida to Virginia.
Minnesota weather should remain mostly rain-free through the 4th. Models are indicating the chance of a few showers in far northern Minnesota, probably in the northwest, later that day.
Our weather will turn gradually warmer and muggier later this week.
Our next best chance of showers and thunderstorms will build in northwestern Minnesota Saturday afternoon and then spread across much of the rest of the state Saturday night and Sunday.
If you are heading for the rivers and streams on the 4th or over the weekend, keep in mind that many of them have responded to our recent rainfall by running deep and fast. Flood Warnings are posted for the Minnesota River at Jordan and Savage, the Mississippi River at St. Paul, the Crow River at Rockford and the South Fork of the Crow at Delano and below Mayer.