textproduct: Twin Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Another day of near critical fire weather concerns across western Minnesota.

- Quiet weather to start the weekend, followed by a cool spring rain system arriving late Sunday through Monday.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 249 AM CDT Fri Apr 24 2026

Rain is taking its time clearing out of western Wisconsin early this morning. Some showers and a few thunderstorms behind the main precip shield on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border have popped up in the last hour or so along the cold front. Back to the west, clouds have cleared a good portion of western/southwestern Minnesota as drier air advects in behind our Thursday system. This dry air will once again spell elevated fire weather concerns this afternoon. While winds will continue to decrease through the day as high pressure settles in, RH values will fall to around 25% and western Minnesota largely missed out on yesterday's rainfall. An SPS for these concerns has been coordinated with neighboring offices. The good news is that this should be the last day of near critical fire weather through early next week.

Temperatures will be running slightly below average for late April with the exception of Sunday, which looks to be the warmest day of the period. There are some low PoPs across portions of Minnesota early Saturday morning through the evening, but the better chance for widespread rainfall arrives late Sunday through Monday. Guidance continues to highlight chances for the entire CWA to pick up 1" or more with a surface low coming out of the Central Plains. This rain will be especially beneficial to western Minnesota, but will need to keep an eye on areas of western Wisconsin who have seen a fair share of precip over the last several days. A Marginal Risk for excessive rainfall encompasses the region Monday for this threat. As far as thunderstorms go, this should be a more of a soaking rain event than anything else. Temperatures will struggle to get into the upper 50s/low 60s through the upcoming work week. Additionally, we may be looking at frost/freeze concerns with morning lows dipping into the low to mid 30s with our green up well underway.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 1237 PM CDT Fri Apr 24 2026

VFR through the period. NW'ly winds around 10kts with occasional gusts between 15-20kts can be anticipated for the rest of this afternoon with mostly clear skies. Winds shift and decrease out of the north this evening then becoming light and variable overnight. Rain chances do look possible for our western sites just outside of the current TAF window but will likely be introduced in future issuances. Upper-level cigs develop late tonight and then falling low-VFR late in the period. Winds shift E'ly tomorrow morning between 5-10kts.

KMSP...Concerns for any showery activity tomorrow afternoon looks to remain west of MSP. However, should showers make their way farther east, no-impacts to flight categories are expected.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ SAT...VFR. Wind W 5-10 kts becoming S. SUN...VFR, chc PM MVFR/-SHRA. Wind E 5-10kts. MON...MVFR/RA likely, chc TSRA. Wind E 10-15G25kts.

MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

MN...None. WI...None.