Fair Weather For The Fair Friday - Weekend Storms

Heading to the second day of the State Fair on Friday? It should be a blue-ribbon day out there with mainly sunny skies, though clouds will be on the increase late in the day. Morning temperatures will be in the upper 50s with highs climbing to around 80F.

Statewide there isn't a weather concern going through the day on Friday. Clouds will be on the slow increase west to east as we head through the second half of the day, otherwise, sunny skies are expected. Temperatures will be in the 70s to low 80s across the state. Definitely not a bad way to end the week!

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As we head toward the weekend, though, we will be watching multiple chances of showers and thunderstorms - but no all-day washouts are currently expected. The first wave of precipitation will be possible as we head through the morning and midday hours on Saturday, with a second round late in the day into the overnight hours that could be on the strong side and contain some heavy rain. Another round of storms will be possible Sunday afternoon in eastern Minnesota and into Wisconsin. A cold front passing through Monday helps to bring an end to the rain chances across the region... only after another round of storms will be possible.

As mentioned above, some of the storms Saturday afternoon and evening could be on the strong side with a Marginal Risk (threat level 1 of 5) of severe weather in place across a good portion of the state. It appears that hail would be the greatest threat at the moment, with damaging winds and an isolated tornado as secondary threats.

Rain potential through Monday morning

Some of the heaviest rain this weekend is expected to fall across central and northern Minnesota, where some areas could see an inch or more fall. Totals toward the Cities look to be more in the quarter to half-inch range.

While we did see some improvement in the Abnormally Dry and Moderate Drought categories over the past week, there was no change in the amount of Severe Drought across central/southern Minnesota according to the latest Drought Monitor released Thursday.

On the week-to-week change map, you can see the improvement came mainly across portions of central Minnesota.

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Fair Weather For The Fair Today - Weekend Storms
By D.J. Kayser, filling in for Paul Douglas

Despite picking up 3.12" of rain so far this month - more rain than we saw fall during the stretch from May 26th through July 31st at MSP (2.80") - there's still a chance we could end up below average for the fourth month in a row. August is typically the second wettest month of the year for the metro with an average of 4.34" falling.

Enjoy some fair weather for the second day of the State Fair today as highs climb to around 80F with late day increasing clouds. That's ahead of several rounds of storms for the weekend and early next week. The best timing for storms this weekend looks to be Saturday morning, late Saturday into Saturday Night (some of which could be strong), and Sunday afternoon. More storms are possible late Monday with a cold front that'll usher in a spectacular stretch of weather Tuesday through at least next Friday.

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D.J.'s Extended Twin Cities Forecast

FRIDAY: Clouds on the increase. Wake up 59. High 80. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind S 3-8 mph.

SATURDAY: Morning and late day storms. Breezy. Wake up 64. High 82. Chance of precipitation 50%. Wind S 10-20 mph.

MONDAY: Cloudy with evening storms. Wake up 69. High 87. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind SW 5-10 mph.

TUESDAY: Mostly sunny with decreasing humidity. Wake up 66. High 82. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NE 5-10 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Blue-ribbon sunshine! Wake up 62. High 80. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind E 5-10 mph.

THURSDAY: Perfect start to September. Sunny skies. Wake up 61. High 80. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind SE 5-10 mph.

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*Length Of Day: 13 hours, 32 minutes, and 35 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 2 minutes and 56 seconds

*When Do We Drop Below 13 Hours Of Daylight?: September 6 (12 hours, 59 minutes, 29 seconds)
*When Does The Sun Start Rising At/After 7 AM?: September 22nd (7:00 AM)
*When Does The Sun Start Setting At/Before 7 PM?: September 27th (7:00 PM)

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This Day in Weather History
August 26th

1915: Unseasonably cold air leads to killing frosts across Minnesota, with a low of 23 degrees at Roseau.

On Friday, a frontal boundary across the Southeast will be the focus of some heavier rain. An area of low pressure in the Northeast will bring the threat of severe weather across the region. Storms are also expected in the Northern Plains due to a low-pressure area. A cold front moving into the Pacific Northwest will produce some rain chances. Meanwhile, monsoonal storm chances continue in the Southwest.

Some of the heaviest rain through the first half of the weekend will be in the Southeast, where portions of Florida and other coastal areas could see at least 3" of rainfall.

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California is about to set the finish line for the EV race

More from Vox: "California, the state that buys the most cars and trucks in the United States, is poised to ban the sale of fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2035. This represents the largest government move against gasoline and diesel to date, with the potential to ripple throughout the country and the global auto industry. The California Air Resources Board, which regulates pollution in the state, is voting on a proposal expected to pass on Thursday that will require 100 percent of all cars sold in the state to produce zero greenhouse gas emissions in 13 years. The board is invoking its authority to protect air quality and deal with the impacts of climate change. Gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles worsen both."

More from Grist: "Across the country, wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense as climate change dries out forests. Scientists and public health advocates are also increasingly recognizing the danger posed not just by the flames themselves, but the smoke that they generate. Smoke from megafires in the West has blocked out the sun as far as Washington, D.C.; asthma cases and deaths from wildfire smoke now affect more people in the Eastern U.S. than in the West. But these impacts are not distributed equally. Communities of color and low-income residents in urban areas already shoulder disproportionate air pollution burdens from sources like truck traffic and industrial waste sites. But Indigenous communities, which tend to be located in rural areas closest to blazes and often have difficulties accessing air filters and upgrading homes to keep out the smallest particles, can be more vulnerable to the impacts of intensifying pollution from wildfires than other groups."

How a new national green bank could steer $27B to clean energy projects

More from Canary Media: "The fight against climate change will need big investments in infrastructure like solar and wind farms, transmission grids and low-carbon industry. But it also needs many more small-scale investments for hundreds of millions of homes and businesses — and that kind of work is best done locally. So say green-bank proponents like Reed Hundt, the former U.S. Federal Communications Commission chair under the Clinton administration. As co-founder and CEO of the Coalition for Green Capital, Hundt has spent the past 13 years working to expand the role of green banks, entities that use public funds to supply low-cost, long-term financing for projects that would otherwise struggle to get it."

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Thanks for checking in and have a great day! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (@dkayserwx) and like me on Facebook (Meteorologist D.J. Kayser).