Lots of Saturday sunshine; wet at times on Sunday

Most Minnesotans will enjoy some very pleasant weather this Saturday. If you have outdoor plans on Sunday, you might need a "plan B".

Rain chances 

West-central and southwestern Minnesota have a chance of showers and an isolated thunderstorm late Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening.

Those same areas have a good chance of some showers and thunderstorms overnight Saturday night.

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On Sunday, periods of showers and a few thunderstorms are a good bet for much of Minnesota, although north-central and northeastern Minnesota could have a dry day.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential rain pattern on Sunday:

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NOAA NAM simulated radar for Sunday through Sunday evening, via tropicaltidbits

The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of rain.

It will rain in some areas that look dry on the simulated radar loop, but the general rainfall pattern is illustrated.

Severe weather outlook

The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows Minnesota in their general (non-severe) thunderstorm category Sunday and Sunday night:

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NWS Storm Prediction Center

Temperature trends

Minnesota will see high temps mostly in the 70s this weekend, but a few spots from the Twin Cities metro area into southeastern Minnesota could touch 80 Saturday afternoon.

On Monday, 70s will be common:

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Southern Minnesota will see some lower 80s on Tuesday:

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Twin Cities highs should be around 80 degrees Wednesday and Thursday.

Not hot 

The average temperature this month at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is running 3.2 degrees cooler than normal.

We've only hit 80 degrees or warmer on 5 out of 11 days this month in the Twin Cities metro area:

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NWS Twin Cities

There isn't any really hot weather in our 7 day forecast, but NOAA's Global Forecast System model is showing Twin Cities metro area highs in the upper 80s on August 23 and 24:

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GFS temperature forecast for the Twin Cities, via MeteoStar

The times listed above are in Coordinated Universal Time, which is 5 hours ahead of CDT.

So, the 89 degree max temp listed for 06Z on Friday, Aug. 25 is the 12 hour max temp through 1 a.m. CDT Friday Aug. 25. It is the Thursday afternoon (Aug. 24) max temp.

The Minnesota State Fair begins on Aug. 24 this year.

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 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.