Good weather for our fishing opener
Our weather winning streak continues today.
Highs will be in the 70s over most of Minnesota this Friday afternoon, with some 60s in the north.
A brief passing shower is possible, but most of us will have a dry day.
Warmer this weekend
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Saturday highs will reach the lower 80s over parts of southern Minnesota, with mostly 70s elsewhere:
60s are expected over northeastern Minnesota.
Mother's Day highs will be in the 80s in southern Minnesota, with lots of 70s over the rest of our state on Sunday:
Temps could top out in the 60s near Lake Superior Sunday afternoon.
Looking ahead, Twin Cities high temps will be in the upper 70s Monday, then around 80 Tuesday and Wednesday.
Rain chances
Anglers can expect mostly dry weather for the Minnesota fishing opener on Saturday.
We could see scattered showers over northern Minnesota Sunday afternoon and evening, a there's a chance of showers and thunderstorms across Minnesota Monday afternoon and Monday evening.
Periods of showers and thunderstorms are likely Monday night and Tuesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the potential rainfall pattern:
The chart to the right of the loop shows the precipitation rate, not the total amount of rain.
Minnesota could see a few strong to severe thunderstorms next week.
Fishing opener weather
The Minnesota State Climatology Office has compiled a nice history of Minnesota fishing opener weather.
The Climatology Office confirms what most Minnesotans already know; our fishing opener weather can be quite variable:
Minnesota's Fishing Opener weather can be variable in every sense of the word. We have seen hot, cold, wet, dry, stormy and even snowy. With such a large state and so many lakes, we have had years that were seemingly perfect in one area, only to be blustery and miserable in another.
Temperature extremes look like this:
Opening day temperatures have started as low as 24 degrees at International Falls (1996,2004), and sub-freezing conditions have even affected Minneapolis (31 degrees in 1979). On the warm side, St. Cloud saw 92 degrees in 1987, Minneapolis reported 91 in 1987, and International Falls reached 88 in 1977.
Our Minnesota lakes are ice-free for the fishing opener this year, but that isn't always the case:
Ice-choked lakes have dogged fishing openers of the past, including as recently as 2013. The 1950 opener was one of the worst known, with iced-over lakes extending to Mille Lacs, Osakis, and the Brainerd Lakes area. That year produced many of the late ice-out records for lakes with long records. Other years with ice on northern lakes include: 1966, 1979, 1996, 2008, and 2009.
I hope that you have a great 2017 Minnesota fishing opener!
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 and 9:35 a.m., plus 4:35 p.m., each Saturday and Sunday.