A weather winning streak
There's a good reason that many of us take vacations in July.
It's typically the sunniest month of the year in Minnesota.
Our average high temperatures peak in July, but that means a lot of 80s, not the 100 degree temps of Phoenix.
Temperature trends
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High temps should reach the 80s across most of Minnesota this Friday afternoon, with some 70s along the north shore of Lake Superior.
On Saturday, highs in the lower 80s will be common:
Similar highs are on tap for Sunday:
Some spots near the north shore of Lake Superior could see highs in the upper 70s this weekend.
Looking into next week, the Twin Cities metro area should see highs in the low to mid 80s Monday through Wednesday.
Rain chances
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the potential for some scattered showers in northwestern Minnesota Saturday evening.
The scattered showers could spread across the remainder of northern Minnesota and parts of central Minnesota Saturday night and Sunday:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the rainfall rate (mm per hour), not to the total amount of rain.
Any showers on Sunday would tend to be scattered, with dry weather expected most of the day.
Highs in the 90s
So far this year, the official high temp has reached 90 degrees or warmer on 10 days at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
On average, we hit 90 or warmer on 11 days per year in the Twin Cities metro area.
With August still ahead, we're likely to see some additional days in the 90s.
This July is nothing like the sweltering July of 1988.
We were 90 degree or warmer on 17 days that July in the Twin Cities, and topped 100 degrees twice:
The Twin Cities had a total of 44 days with a high of 90 degrees or higher that year!
As I've mentioned before, I was living in a house with no air conditioning in 1988, so I remember that steamy summer very well.
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.