textproduct: Twin Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Very hot and humid this afternoon. A cold front will bring cooler and less humid conditions Saturday.

- Isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible along the front this evening across eastern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Additional storm chances Sunday night and Monday.

- Areas of smoke may make a return this weekend.

- Much cooler air arrives by the middle of next week with lows in the 50s and highs near 80.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 310 PM CDT Fri Jul 17 2026

Temperatures continue to climb this afternoon with 2 PM readings now in the low to mid 90s. Expecting to gain another few degrees until reaching highs in the mid to upper 90s by late afternoon. Dew points have not dropped as expected, and in fact remain in the low to mid 70s outside of the core metro. This has allowed heat indices to reach hotter levels than predicted. The Heat Advisory was expanded earlier to the Albert Lea and Eau Claire areas. Am contemplating expanding the Extreme Heat Warning from the metro into central and western Minnesota where heat indices have begun to top 105 in a few locations.

A cold front is beginning to reach west central Minnesota. Winds have shifted northwest behind it from Aberdeen, to Fergus Falls and Park Rapids. Immediately behind the front dew points remain quite elevated, but farther upstream relief is in sight where temps are in the 70s and dew points in the 60s. Storms may fire along the front as it continues southeast this evening. The best chance of this occurring is over eastern MN and WI, mostly east of I-35. Strong instability and weak shear may be enough to get a few organized storms capable of producing hail and wind, but the severe risk is low given low coverage of storms and sub- optimal shear.

Drier air works in Saturday, but warm temperatures will remain. There may be some light smoke returning in the northerly flow, but higher concentrations may work into areas east of I-35 Saturday night and Sunday. MPCA noted there are a lot of variables in play such as fire behavior following earlier rain, and how active fires will become again Saturday. Therefore, confidence is low at this time but still worth mentioning the potential.

Northwest flow will prevail Sunday and a trough will begin to approach Sunday night. Low level moisture will increase and pwats may approach 2 inches by late Sunday night. Some increase in the LLJ and passing disturbances in the northwest mid level flow should spark thunderstorms Sunday night which may continue into Monday morning. Should those storms not develop, Monday should be another very hot day and worthy of headlines. The early day convection also casts low confidence on the potential for renewed development along the cold front in the afternoon and evening.

Cooler and less humid air returns by midweek. Highs in the upper 70s to low 80s and lows in the 50s will bring much needed relief from the recent heat. There are signs of the ridge returning by next weekend which may bring another round of heat toward the end of the month.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 1233 AM CDT Sat Jul 18 2026

The storms have moved past the TAF sites and we should remain thunderstorm free for the rest of the period. Winds have shifted back to a more northerly direction as the frontal passage has occurred. This has allowed for some smoke to move back in. Some MVFR visibility will be present as the smoke remains. A denser area of smoke will be possible tonight in parts of Wisconsin with the highest chance at EAU. .

KMSP...Main question now is what will happen with the smoke. Looking at nearby observations seeing everything from 5SM to 10SM. So what smoke we will see looks VFR or high MVFR.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ SUN...MVFR/FU early, chc -TSRA PM, otherwise VFR. Wind S 5-10 kts. MON...VFR, chc AM MVFR/-TSRA. Wind SW to NW 10-15G25 kts. TUE...VFR. Wind NW 15-20G30 kts.

MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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