Fog dissipates; rather muggy conditions remain

A stubborn stratus cloud layer persisted over parts of east central Minnesota on Wednesday before giving way to late afternoon sunshine. The clouds held the temperatures in the 70s from the Twin Cities to St. Cloud.

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Mostly sunny skies allowed the mercury to soar to 90 degrees at Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., Wednesday afternoon.

Once again this morning we are dealing with areas of fog and low clouds as a result of high levels of water vapor and relatively light winds.

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Note the returns of the milky white color over southern Minnesota on this enhanced water vapor satellite image indicating some extent of the water vapor in the vertical profile of the atmosphere.

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Water vapor satellite image:NOAA

We are expecting the fog and stratus clouds to thin out this morning resulting in a very warm and humid afternoon.

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By late afternoon the heat index values should be close to 90 degrees across western and southern Minnesota. More comfortable conditions are in store for the Arrowhead as well as along the shoreline of Lake Superior.

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Heat index forecast for 4 p.m. CDT.

In case you missed it, yesterday brought a rather prolonged period of heavy rain in west central Wisconsin.  Isolated locations  between Rice Lake and Eau Claire were flooded with more than 4 inches of rainfall.

Warm and humid conditions are expected to continue through the weekend. This forecast graphic is from the National Weather Service in Chanhassen and shows the summer-like conditions in the Twin Cities metro through Sunday.

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As a cool front approaches on Saturday night chances for strong thunderstorms will be on the rise. We'll track the timing of showers and their intensity as we move through the weekend.

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Rainfall potential Saturday and Saturday night. Image:NOAA Weather Prediction Center

The longer range outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center is for temperatures to trend below normal as we go into the middle of September.

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