Delicious air mass courtesy of Lake Superior

Does it get any better?

Bright sun, low humidity, fresh northeast breezes. Okay, maybe no mosquitoes?

But you have to admit this late May weather pattern is one of the best of the year for Minnesota. You can thank Lake Superior for today's delicious air mass. Check out this morning's NASA GOES 1km visible satellite shot.

I've overlaid wind streamlines and dew points. That northeast flow is pumping cooler and much drier air into Minnesota with dew points in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

Ice water desert

You can think of Lake Superior as a big ice water desert this time of year. Water temps are in the 30s and 40s, and the large surface area modifies the air mass as it passes over the big lake.

The dew point trends are clear as we've plunged from near tropical metro dew points in the 60s Tuesday, to low 50s this morning. We'll bottom out in the almost fall-like 40s tomorrow, meaning the air mass has less than half the total moisture than it did yesterday morning.

Southerly flow returns the moisture as we head toward the weekend.

The Lake Superior high protects Minnesota this week. A low pressure system and front slides slowly east by Friday, and brings an increase in shower and thunderstorm coverage this weekend.

Temps push toward 80 today and into the 80s the rest of the week. A slow moving warm front develops over Minnesota and Iowa by Sunday and Monday. That could spawn some locally heavy downpours, with the potential for training cells moving over the same ground. It's early, but we may need to keep ans eye on flash flood potential early next week as we transition into June.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's seven-day rainfall outlook suggest some hefty rainfall totals over the Upper Midwest. We dry out this week, but the prospect for multi-inch rainfall totals returns early next week.

Enjoy the warmer and drier weather, for now.