Very nice!
Don't expect much weather drama over the next few days.
We'll enjoy some of the most pleasant weather in the country today through Saturday!
Our Thursday will be dry over most of Minnesota, but there's a chance of scattered showers and an isolated thunderstorm Thursday afternoon and evening over northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.
Northern Minnesota will have Thursday afternoon highs in the 70s, central and southern Minnesota will see 80s.
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Temperature trends
Highs will be near normal over most of Minnesota from Friday through Sunday, which is nice.
In case you're wondering, our average high is 83 degrees this time of year in the Twin Cities.
Friday's highs will be in the lower 80s over much of Minnesota, with some 70s northeast:
Similar highs are on tap for Saturday:
And on Sunday too:
You'll be happy to know that tropical dew points won't return anytime soon.
Sunday rain chance
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System model is showing the possibility of some Sunday showers:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the rainfall rate (mm per hour), not to the total amount of rain.
The Canadian forecast model shows a shower chance mainly in northern Minnesota on Sunday.
Drought update
Today's update from U.S. Drought Monitor shows serious drought conditions continue over much of eastern Montana, western and central North Dakota and parts of South Dakota:
Parts of northwestern Minnesota remain in moderate drought:
The yellow shaded areas in northwestern Minnesota and southwestern Minnesota are abnormally dry, but are not in drought.
NOAA's rainfall map for the past 7 days shows that very little rain has fallen over northwestern Minnesota:
Some locations in southern Minnesota saw 7 day rainfall totals between two and five inches.
Twin Cities stats
Our average temperature is running 1.5 degrees warmer than normal so far this month in the Twin Cities:
You'll notice that the July rainfall total is .24 of an inch below normal at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
MSP airport had .83 of an inch of rain Tuesday and early Wednesday.
By contrast, meteorologist Bill Endersen had 1.60 inches of rain in south Minneapolis for that same time period.
I imagine that many parts of the Twin Cities are above normal for rainfall this month!
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.