The heat and humidity is coming back for the weekend, but first, a warm windy day will bring a potential for strong storms across Minnesota.
Thermometers will flirt with 90 degrees in the metro area and across the southern half of Minnesota on Wednesday before a cold front racing across the state could touch off strong to severe storms.
“Damaging wind and large hail are possible,” the National Weather Service said. “Be weather aware and be ready to act. Have multiple ways to receive warning information.”
Storms are most likely after 4 p.m. Wednesday in an area stretching from Red Wing to the Twin Cities and north and east to Duluth, Hibbing, Ely and extending into northwestern Wisconsin, the Weather Service said.
“The main threats from the storms are wind gusts of 40 to 70 mph, hail up to the size of ping pong balls, and frequent cloud-to-ground lightning,” the Weather Service’s Duluth office said.
An air quality alert remains in effect until 10 a.m. Wednesday for Minnesota counties along the Canadian border. Air quality levels will reach the red or unhealthy category, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said.
Thursday will bring sunny skies and highs in the 70s before a summer blast of heat arrives for the weekend. By Saturday, actual air temperatures will tip 90 degrees with heat indexes pushing above 95 degrees in the Twin Cities, Mankato, Fairmont, Redwood Falls and Albert Lea, the Weather Service said.
The heat will hang around at least through Tuesday and “numerous near record-tying or breaking highs are possible, with overnight lows remaining warm and at similarly high record-tying/breaking levels,” the Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said.
The Twin Cities’ highest temperature this month was 95 degrees on Aug. 3, a mark that could be equaled or eclipsed during the Saturday through Tuesday heat wave.
Temperatures have hit 90 degrees or above 23 times this season in the Twin Cities with the warmest day being the 96 degrees recorded on July 27, according to the Minnesota Climatology Office.