Hot, steamy weather still on tap for later this week
A broad west-to-east band of rather heavy rain tracked northward from southern Minnesota into the central part of the state overnight Monday into Tuesday. Many areas got a significant soaking.
As rain came to an end from south to north across the Twin Cities area shortly before 7 a.m., my rain gauge in Minneapolis read 1.3 inches since Monday. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and local airports in St. Paul and Crystal all measured about 1.1 inches while Rochester in southeastern Minnesota got a meager two one-hundredths of an inch.
Showers will wane as the area of rain heads farther north. More showers will continue to develop across mainly south central and southeastern Minnesota through the day Tuesday, but they will struggle to get as far north as the Twin Cities. Clouds will restrict temperatures in the central and southern parts of the state. Highs will be mainly in the 70s.
The warmest parts of the state will be way up north where areas from Moorhead, Hallock and Baudette to International Falls should reach the low 80s. Meanwhile, as easterly wind will provide the usual chilly temperatures along the North Shore where highs might be just in the 60s in Two Harbors and Grand Marais. The Twin Cities should reach about 75 Tuesday afternoon.
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Showers north Wednesday
A disturbance along the Canadian border should bring a few harmless showers and thunderstorms to the far north on Wednesday.
Stronger storms Thursday
Strong and thunderstorms will build across the Dakotas on Thursday. Some storms might be severe as they spread across the northwestern part of Minnesota Thursday evening.
Heat and humidity on their way
The heat and humidity will begin to build on Thursday, but Friday will be the red-letter day. High temperatures on Friday are likely to range from the 80s to the low and mid 90s. The core of the Twin Cities heat island might end up with the hottest temperatures, in the mid 90s.
Dew points, that excellent measure of how sticky you will feel, should rise into the tropical low 70s across central and southern Minnesota by Friday afternoon. Make a pitcher of iced tea ahead of time.
Storms for the weekend?
Forecast models are a bit confused about our prospects for thunderstorms on the weekend. The various disturbances likely to cross our area before that time will set off outflows and other boundaries that make forecasting rounds of storms several days in advance quite problematic.
My best outlook at this point is that thunderstorms are likely on Friday, mainly across northern Minnesota. Thunderstorms will be more likely in central and southern Minnesota on Saturday. Some storms might become severe.