Sunny Weekend - Riding The Temp Rollercoaster

A couple rounds of strong storms moved across the state Thursday evening into Friday morning, with reports of funnel clouds up north and wind damage in the south metro. Shortly after 3 AM Friday morning, MSP Airport had a wind gust of 64 mph.

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Ready for a pretty well perfect fall Saturday? Too bad the Gophers aren't playing in town! Mainly sunny skies, with just a few passing clouds, are expected to begin the weekend. Morning temperatures will be in the upper 40s to around 50F Saturday morning before climbing to the mid-70s during the afternoon hours. Winds could be a touch breezy at times.

A quiet, mainly sunny day is expected across the state on Saturday with highs ranging from the 60s in the Arrowhead to near 80F out in western portions of the state. A few clouds will move through from time to time, especially in northern Minnesota.

Sunday will be even warmer across the state as a surge of warm air moves in on the back of very gusty southerly winds. Many areas of the state will climb into the 80s for highs, with maybe even a few 90s possible in portions of western and southern Minnesota. Dew points will also be a touch uncomfortable in the 60s.

There could be an isolated storm across portions of western Minnesota Sunday into Sunday night that could be on the strong side. The Storm Prediction Center has put a Marginal Risk of severe weather in place.

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We are starting to see more areas of 25-50% color starting to pop across portions of northern Minnesota, with many of the state parks along the North Shore reporting that value. You can follow the MN DNR Fall Color Finder throughout the fall color season by clicking here.

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Sunny Weekend - Riding The Temp Rollercoaster
By D.J. Kayser, filling in for Paul Douglas

September is definitely one of those weather transition months for the state. Back on this date in 1991, Duluth picked up 2.5" of snow. In 1997, an F3 tornado went from near Lastrup to Onamia, one of six tornadoes across Morrison, Mille Lacs, and Kanabec Counties.

A cold front late Monday will drive through some more storms, as well as much cooler weather for the middle of the week. Highs Tuesday through the end of the week are only expected to be in the 60s or low 70s in the Twin Cities.

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D.J.'s Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SATURDAY: Pleasant. Passing clouds. Wake up 51. High 75. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind S 5-15 mph.

SUNDAY: Breezy, warm, and sticky. Wake up 66. High 86. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind S 15-25 mph.

TUESDAY: Sun/cloud mix. Isolated PM shower? Wake up 54. High 65. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NW 10-20 mph.

WEDNESDAY: A few clouds for the Autumnal Equinox. Wake up 48. High 65. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NW 5-10 mph.

THURSDAY: More clouds than sun. Wake up 50. High 70. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 5-15 mph.

FRIDAY: Cloudy. Isolated shower possible. Wake up 54. High 69. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind W 5-10 mph.

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*Length Of Day: 12 hours, 21 minutes, and 47 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 3 minutes and 5 seconds

*When Do We Drop Below 12 Hours Of Daylight? September 26th (11 hours, 56 minutes, and 56 seconds)
*When Is The Sunrise At/After 7:00 AM?: September 22nd (7:00 AM)
*When Is The Sunset At/Before 7:00 PM?: September 27th (7:00 PM)

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This Day in Weather History
September 18th

1997: An F3 tornado destroys several buildings and damages numerous others. Hundreds of trees are knocked down. A number of cattle are also killed in a collapsed barn. One man is injured when the tornado engulfs his car and throws it into a nearby woods. A second man is critically injured when his garage collapses, then dies several weeks later. The total path length of the tornado from 1 NE of Lastrup to Onamia is 17 miles. Total property damage is estimated at $1.7 million. In total, 6 tornadoes touch down in Morrison, Mille Lacs, and Kanabec.

1971: A brush fire at Lake Alexander in Morrison County spawns a 10-foot wide, 50-foot high 'fire whirl.' It moved out over the lake, overturned a 1,800 pound pontoon boat, and then dissipated as it moved back to shore.

1903: 3.75 inches of rain falls in the Minneapolis area.

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Whatever is left of Nicholas will continue to help bring in heavy rain across portions of the central Gulf Coast and Southeast on Saturday. A weakening boundary in the Northeast could spark some showers and isolated thunderstorms. The Northwest will continue to see showers and storms, with snow mixing in at times at higher elevations. Storms will also be possible across the Intermountain West and Southwest.

While rainfall amounts of 1-3" will be possible across the Southeast, it'll be the Pacific Northwest that sees the heaviest rain through the weekend with some locations seeing over 3" fall.

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Lab-grown woolly mammoths could walk the Earth in six years if geneticist's new start-up succeeds

This sounds like a bad idea - has anyone seen Jurassic Park? More from CNBC: "A little more than two years ago, serial tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm reached out to renowned Harvard geneticist George Church. The two met in Boston, at Church's lab, and that fruitful conversation was the catalyst for the start-up Colossal, which is announcing its existence Monday. The start-up's goal is ambitious and a little bit crazy: It aims to create a new type of animal similar to the extinct woolly mammoth by genetically engineering endangered Asian elephants to withstand Arctic temperatures. The project has been kicking around for years, but nobody had ever given it enough funding to get it off the ground. Now it's a company with $15 million in seed funding from a variety of investors and Lamm as CEO."

Democrats Seek 'Historic' Changes to U.S. Flood Program

More from Scientific American: "Congressional Democrats are moving toward enacting two measures that could vastly expand access to flood insurance and give communities a more accurate picture of their flood risk through better maps. Two provisions in a budget reconciliation bill the House Financial Services Committee approved Tuesday address long-standing shortcomings in flood protection as climate change and coastal development intensify damage from flooding. One item provides $1 billion to launch a subsidy program to help low- and moderate-income households buy flood insurance and close the coverage gap that leaves poorer households and communities more vulnerable to flood damage. The other item provides $3 billion to improve the federal government's flood maps, which show areas of the country most at risk of flooding but which in some cases are more than 15 years old and do not reflect a community's current or future flood risk."

More from Inside Climate News: "A record number of environmental activists were killed in 2020, according to the latest accounting by a U.K.-based advocacy group that puts the blame squarely on extractive industries, including agribusiness and logging. The number of documented killings—227—occurred across the world, but in especially high numbers throughout Latin America and the Amazon. According to the report, published late Sunday by Global Witness, the real number is likely to be higher."

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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).

- D.J. Kayser