Weekend forecast: Warm and breezy; shower chance in western MN late Sunday

Our official Twin Cities high temp was 74 degrees on Wednesday and 75 on Tuesday. Those are typical high temps on Sept. 9 or 10. Our average high this time of year is only in the upper 40s.

I was able to play some November golf yesterday. Our Oct. 20 snowstorm seemed like a distant memory!

Weekend warmth

Saturday highs will range from the 50s in far northern Minnesota to the 70s in southwestern and south-central Minnesota:

Saturday forecast highs

National Weather Service

The Twin Cities metro area will reach at least the upper 60s Saturday afternoon, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few spots in the metro touch 70.

It’ll be a bit breezy Saturday, with afternoon gusts over 20 mph in most spots and possibly over 30 mph in southwestern Minnesota:

Saturday noon forecast wind gusts

National Weather Service

Plotted values are in knots, with 22 knots equal to around 25 mph and 27 knots equal to around 31 mph.

Back to temperatures, Sunday highs range from the lower 60s in far northern Minnesota to near 70 in the far south:

Sunday forecast highs

National Weather Service

We could flirt with 70 in the metro area, depending on the amount of mid-afternoon cloud cover. Sunday will be windy.

Rain chances?

Saturday looks dry. Northwestern Minnesota will have a chance of scattered rain showers Sunday afternoon.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows this potential precipitation pattern on Sunday:

Simulated radar for Sunday

NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Western Minnesota will have a chance of scattered rain showers Sunday evening, then the shower chance spreads into eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin overnight Sunday night.

You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.

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