TODAY'S FORECAST: High 83°/Low 66°... Mix of clouds & sun today. Windy & warm. Mostly cloudy tonight. Chance of showers & t-storms, especially north & west.
Updated Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 7:14 AM...
Warm air will continue to flow into the region today ahead of a cool front. It will also continue to be quite breezy with south winds 10-20 mph, with gusts to 30 mph possible. The strongest winds will be across the open areas of SE Minnesota and NE Iowa. The front will stay far enough west to keep us dry today, but we'll have to deal with some clouds at times. These are "debris" clouds caused by the showers and t-storms that will be located to our west across Minnesota and western Iowa. Even with some clouds, expect warm highs in the 80-85º range.
The front will edge closer to the area tonight. As a result, we'll see a chance of showers and t-storms, especially in our northern & western counties. Otherwise it will be mostly cloudy and mild with morning lows mainly in the 60s.
The cool front will track into the area tomorrow. At the same time, an area of low pressure will lift northeast along the front and into the area. These two features will cause a good chance of showers and t-storms, especially during the afternoon & evening hours. The Storm Prediction Center has most of our viewing area under a Slight Risk of severe weather with the main threats being large hail and high winds. An isolated tornado cannot by fully ruled out and locally heavy rain is also possible. The threat of severe weather hinges on if we see some dry time during the morning hours and especially some sunshine. If we stay cloudy, or have some rain around in the morning... then the severe weather threat for later in the day would be lower. Expect highs Thursday right around 80º, but it could be warmer if we see some hours of sunshine.
Looking Ahead... Most of Friday looks dry and a bit cooler with highs in the mid-upper 70s. The models are then showing Thursday's cool front stalling just to our south... and lifting back north as a warm front by Friday night. This could spark another round of showers and t-storms late Friday night into Saturday. Expect highs on Saturday right around 80º.
If the warm front lifts far enough north on Sunday, then most of the region has a good chance of staying dry. It would also be quite warm and a bit humid with highs in the upper 80s to near 90º. It then looks like a cool front will swing east across the region on Memorial Day. This would bring another good chance of showers and t-storms as the front bumps into the warm & humid air. We'll also have to keep an eye on the chance for severe weather on Saturday and Memorial Day. Stay tuned for updates.
Monday's front should knock highs back into the 70s Tuesday through Thursday. Another disturbance will bring a slight chance of showers and t-storms by the middle of next week.
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