textproduct: Twin Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Breezy northwest winds today with a few light rain showers.

- Chances for thunderstorms return this weekend.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 249 AM CDT Wed Aug 26 2026

Clear skies overnight, but cloud cover streaming southwards out of northern Minnesota will lead to a mostly cloudy morning & afternoon. Northwest winds increase through the morning with wind gusts of 20-25 mph expected through sunset. Cyclonic flow & cold advection aloft will result in prime conditions for widely scattered dirunally-driven rain showers to develop this afternoon, although the drought conditions may limit how much precip we actually see. Best chances for a brief rain shower this afternoon will be across western Wisconsin.

High pressure holds over the region through Friday leading to continued dry conditions with seasonable temperatures. A more active upper air pattern develops over the weekend as the jet stream strengthens along the US- Canada border & a number of shortwaves traverse through the Upper Midwest. These look to be relatively weak over the weekend, but supportive of at least scattered thunderstorm chances. The best chance for rain this weekend looks to be overnight Friday night into Saturday morning. A stronger wave looks possible early next week, but still low confidence on the track/timing & location of the heaviest rain potential.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 1232 PM CDT Wed Aug 26 2026

Breezy NW flow will continue through the afternoon and early evening, under BKN skies at 3-5 kft. Breezy winds with gusts to 20-25 knots will subside around sunset, with winds becoming light at 3-6 knots during the overnight hours. Skies will gradually diminish after 00z, becoming FEW to SKC during the overnight timeframe.

For Thursday, VFR conditions can be expected with NW winds of 10 knots and FEW clouds during the afternoon.

KMSP...BKN stratus at 4-5 kft will continue through the afternoon and early evening hours. An isolated instance of CIGs dropping to 2-3 kft will be possible as well. Confidence in that occurring is low, so no mention in TAF. Winds remain breezy out of the NW, decreasing in speed around sunset.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ FRI...VFR. Chc -TSRA late night. Wind SW 5-10 kts. SAT...VFR. Chc AM -TSRA. Wind S 10-15G20 kts. SUN...VFR. Slight chc PM -TSRA. Wind S 8-13G18 kts.

MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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