Rain Showers this evening; Fire Weather Watch for Saturday

-Rain will continue across northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin this evening which will be followed by a few showers overnight, and some patchy fog could also develop, especially near Lake Superior.

-Saturday will be a windy one, but dry and mild with mostly sunny skies. Highs will mainly be in the 60s with west winds 15 to 20 (gusts up to 35 mph)

-Cooler weather on Sunday thanks to another cold frontal passage which actually occurs Saturday afternoon/evening. Highs Sunday in the 40s to lower 50s with north to northwest winds 10 to 20 mph.

Source: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/

Rain continues across parts of the Northland early this evening diminishing to a few showers from SW-NE by mid or late evening. All the rain is out of our area by 7 AM Saturday (likely several hours earlier than that)

Simulated radar forecast valid from 7 PM Friday to 7 AM Saturday.

Source: 18z NAM-WRF model 5.1.2020; https://weathermodels.com/

I94 across central Minnesota is the dividing line between summer and early spring weather this afternoon.

South of I94, sunshine, gusty winds and warm temperatures, while north of I94 you run into clouds, areas of rain and much cooler temperatures.

Source: Goes-16 visible imagery 5.1.2020; https://weather.cod.edu/

We have quite a temperature contrast in place this Friday afternoon.

Summer like warmth across southwestern Minnesota with widespread 80s this afternoon, meanwhile across north-central Minnesota into far northwest Wisconsin, temperatures are in the 50s with even a few 40s thanks to clouds and an area of rain. Then you jump farther north into Ontario and you get back into the 70s this afternoon!

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-A Fire Weather Watch for wind and low relative humidity is in effect for Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening for portions of northeast, east-central and north-central Minnesota (tan shaded area on map)

-West winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph.

-Relative humidity as low as 20 percent.

-Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly. Outdoor burning is not recommended.

-A fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur. Listen for later forecasts and possible Red Flag Warnings.

The early to middle part of next week could turn a bit unsettled and also cooler once again, but there is a lot of model variability showing up for next week.

Two features to watch, one is high pressure near the south shore of Hudson Bay Canada, the other is an area of low pressure over the Northern Plains.

The high to our NE will try to funnel colder/drier air into the Northland while the low to our SW tries to pump moisture into our area and into the colder/drier air. Result from all this could be some chilly rain and yes possibly some snow or a wintry mix of precipitation in parts of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin sometime between Monday and early Wednesday morning. Stay tuned.

Source: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/