Beautiful Thursday; Severe storms possible Friday

Today will be on the sunny and quiet side with a breeze and warm temperatures. Take advantage of it before a cold front moves through on Friday leading to a chance of strong to severe storms and a drop in temperatures for the upcoming weekend.

Sunshine will stretch across the area today as temperatures warm up into the upper-70s and low-80s across the area. A pleasant breeze hovering between 10 and 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph will keep things feeling cooler through the afternoon hours. Tonight, a breeze will linger through the overnight hours as temperatures drop into the upper-50s and low-60s by Friday morning.

Friday will start off partly cloudy before becoming mostly cloudy as a cold front moves west to east across the area. This could lead to a few strong to severe storms possible from south central Minnesota to southeastern Minnesota and north central Iowa into northeastern Iowa. The threat will increase the more east you head with a level 3 pf 5 threat for far southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa into Wisconsin. All modes of severe weather are possible in the threat areas. Keep in mind, not everyone will see activity in the area.

As of right now, we are looking at showers and thunderstorms developing along and ahead of the cold front through the late morning and early afternoon hours. This means we will reach a high in the mid-60s through the late morning hours before temperatures start to drop throughout the afternoon and overnight hours. Showers and thunderstorms will develop between the central portions of the area (southcentral Minnesota and northcentral Iowa) and move east, northeast into Wisconsin from the late morning and early afternoon hours through the mid-afternoon and evening hours. Winds are projected to be strong across the area, regardless of seeing activity or not. We are looking at winds between 15 and 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph possible. Expect stronger winds in areas with storm activity. Storms will clear out of the Minnesota area between 3 pm and 4 pm, leaving behind dropping temperatures and a gradual clearing of the sky overnight. We are looking at low around the upper-20s by Saturday morning with skies becoming mostly clear.

Saturday will then be the coolest day of the week and upcoming weekend despite partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies anticipated across the area. Winds will remain on the strong side, hovering between 20 and 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph possible. Temperatures are projected to top out in the mid-40s through the afternoon hours before dropping back into the low-30s by Sunday morning.

From there, temperatures will start to warm back up through Sunday and into next week with mostly sunny skies mixed in. Highs are projected to hover in the mid-50s on Sunday with winds hovering between 10 and 15 mph, gusts up to 20 mph possible. Sunday night will remain quiet and clear with temperatures dropping into the low-30s by Monday morning.

Monday through Wednesday will then remain quiet with mostly sunny skies on Monday and Tuesday and partly cloudy skies throughout Wednesday. Temperatures will rebound back into the upper-60s by Monday, the mid-70s by Tuesday and the low-70s by Wednesday. Winds through the start of next week will likely hover between 10 and 25 mph, gusts between 20 and 30 mph across the area. Overnight temperatures will be warmer as well, dropping into the upper-40s and low-50s by the following mornings.

The end of next week is looking to be active with chances of showers and thunderstorms possible on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as a minor cold front moves through the area. Temperatures will then drop into the mid to upper-60s on Thursday and the mid to upper-50s on Friday and Saturday. Winds through the end of next week will remain breezy, hovering between 10 and 20 mph with gusts between 20 and 30 mph possible. Overnight temperatures will likely drop into the 40s by the following mornings.

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