Shower/t-storm chances Friday and this weekend, but many dry hours too
A National Weather Service will conduct a damage survey this Friday of a few southern Minnesota locations that saw severe weather on Thursday.
This tornado was in Redwood county of southern Minnesota around 5:30 p.m. Thursday:
It was the only Thursday tornado report on the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center site:
The time listed is in Universal Time, which is 5 hours ahead of CDT.
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The Twin Cities office of the NWS also plans to investigate Thursday storm damage in the St. James area of southern Minnesota.
We'll let you know what they report.
Showers and thunderstorms at times
The atmosphere will remain unsettled over Minnesota and Wisconsin right into the weekend. Showers and thunderstorms are expected at times, but there'll be many dry hours between bouts of rain.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model shows this potential rain pattern Friday morning through early Saturday afternoon:
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 in the HRRR loop, but the loop shows the general rain pattern within the model.
Additional waves of showers and thunderstorms are expected over Minnesota and western Wisconsin the remainder of Saturday afternoon into the overnight hours of Saturday night. By Sunday, most of the showers and thunderstorms will be confined to the eastern half of Minnesota plus Wisconsin.
As always, updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you’ll also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
You can see the recent local NWS radar loop here. The recent radar loop for southwestern Minnesota can be found here, and the southeastern Minnesota loop here. The northeastern Minnesota radar loop and the northwestern Minnesota radar loop are also available.
Severe weather potential
The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a marginal risk of severe weather this Friday and Friday night in parts of far western Minnesota and south-central and southeastern Minnesota, plus southwestern Wisconsin:
Eastern portions of North Dakota and South Dakota have a slight risk of severe weather.
Marginal risk means that an isolated severe thunderstorm is possible, while slight risk means that scattered severe t-storms are possible:
SPC shows a marginal risk of severe weather for most of the southern half of Minnesota, plus parts of western Wisconsin, Saturday and Saturday night:
The Storm Prediction Center will update the severe weather outlooks this afternoon and this evening.
Temperature trends
Our average high temp is 81 degrees this time of year in the Twin Cities metro area.
The Twin Cities metro area and most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will see Friday afternoon highs in the 70s. There'll be some 60s along the North Shore of Lake Superior.
North-central and northeastern Minnesota will top out in the 60s on Saturday, with 70s elsewhere:
Most areas will see highs in the 70s on Sunday, with 60s near Lake Superior:
Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 70s Monday, followed by mid 80s Tuesday and upper 80s next Wednesday and Thursday.
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.