Saturday morning thunder possible, but many dry weekend hours

Most of Minnesota will be dry at any given time this weekend. But there's enough moisture and instability around to produce a few spotty local showers and isolated thundershowers across Minnesota's landscape. Any one spot has about a 30 percent chance of rainfall this weekend.

Meteorologists call this a weak synoptic pattern. The weather maps lack strong fronts or other focusing mechanisms to pinpoint rainfall zones.

It's unorganized weather chaos when it comes to precise timing and location of rain. Most of the hours this weekend will be dry. But many of us may get a few hours of showers and a thunderstorm. A few local rain showers grace parts of the Twin Cities Friday evening.

Some forecast models are tracking a weak short wave that may generate a more organized thunderstorm cluster overnight that could reach the Twin Cities early Saturday morning.

Ideal temperatures?

The thermal profile across Minnesota is close to ideal for many of us. Highs around 80 and overnight lows in the 60s are quite comfortable. Dew points around 60 provide just a touch of summer humidity. Most of us ride the edge of 80 degrees Saturday.

Stormy Monday night?

A more focused system rolls through with a chance for strong storms Monday night. The Canadian GEM model depicts a line of storms moving east from the Dakotas. Behind this system, a much drier high-pressure cell sweeps across Minnesota the middle of next week.

Refreshingly dry air mass next week

A fresh Canadian breeze blows into Minnesota Tuesday. The inbound air mass features dew points in the fall-like 40s and low 50s. Good sleeping weather in my book.

Mostly 80s

Highs will run mostly in the 70s in northern Minnesota and mostly 80s in the south.

Here are the projected Twin Cities numbers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.