Another nice day, but turning soggy southeast

A couple of bands of light rain traveled across central and northeast Minnesota last night.  Precipitation amounts may have totaled up to a tenth of an inch in some locations.

Temperatures at sunrise were in the upper 30s in far northern and northeast Minnesota.  At 6 a.m., the thermometer read 39 degrees in Ely.

Skies were clear to partly cloudy this morning, but patchy low clouds have formed, along with some fog as winds were light and the relative humidity was near 100 percent. The low clouds were barely discernible on this water vapor imagery. The thunderstorm cloud tops stand out near the Iowa/Missouri border.

I'm expecting a quiet and nice day across the state, with fog and low clouds thinning.  High temperatures will be  close to seasonal.

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The regional temperature forecast shows that warmer air is still settle over Missouri.

Thunderstorms are forecast to blossom in the Central Plains today and then track northeast tonight into Thursday.

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Computer models differ on how far north the heavy rain will move on Thursday. There will likely be a sharp cut off to the copious amounts of precipitation.

The National Weather Service forecast for Minneapolis/St. Paul for Thursday says this:

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly between 7am and 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 71. East southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Last evening's forecast stated rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches were possible.

I'm seeing such a sharp cut off to the heavy rain that I'm watering my lawn on the north side of the house this morning.

Looking ahead to the holiday weekend, it appears that Saturday will be the nicer day. Comfortable temperatures are in store. A better chance for thunderstorms developing in a warmer air mass is expected on Sunday.

Here's the national high temperature forecast for Sunday from the National Weather Service.

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