Warm front: Steamy and stormy by Friday

Our week of summer bliss continues today with cloud filtered sunshine and gradually rising humidity. A few widely scattered stray thundershowers could bubble up today as the approaching warm front builds.

Enjoy it. By Friday we may be longing for dew points around 60 degrees as warmer and much more humid air mass drifts north behind the developing warm front.

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NOAA

Heat wave builds

What happens when you combine dew points in the 70s with temps in the upper 80s and 90s? Your body just keeps up. That's why head index values (apparent temperature) push into the 90s for the Twin Cities Friday afternoon, and well over 100 from southwest Minnesota into the central Plains as we ride the northern edge of a developing heat wave.

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Look for heat advisories and extreme heat warnings to go up for Friday across the Midwest. Heat index values in Kansas City, Mo., and Tulsa, Okla., could push 110 degrees.

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NOAA

Stormy by Friday

As low pressure rides east into Minnesota, the richly tropical air mass will be ripe for storms. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center paints a slight risk for severe weather for the Red River Valley Thursday.

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NOAA

The risk zone shifts east to include the Twin Cities metropolitan area on Friday.

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Severe risk Friday. NOAA

We could see two rounds of thunderstorms Friday across Minnesota with a dying morning storm complex and a redeveloping batch in the afternoon and evening.

The peak of barbaric humidity? Friday afternoon as dew points approach the mid-70s. I'm having trouble breathing already just thinking about it.

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NOAA

Stay tuned as we refine timing on storms as we move toward Friday.