Weekend forecast: a little cooler; the best chance to shower is on Saturday

Some of us say, “I can’t believe it’s October already.”

I don’t remember a lot of people saying, “I can’t believe it’s February”. That could be because a lot of people enjoy September weather a lot more than January weather.

We start October with above average temperatures. Temperatures will drop a bit this weekend, but they will still be a bit above average.

Weekend temperatures and dew points

Our average maximum temperature in Twin Cities is 66 degrees on October 2nd. The highs in the metropolitan regions will hit the lower 70s this Saturday. Much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have Saturday highs in the 70s, with the 60s in the far north of Minnesota:

Saturday dew points will be in the sticky 60s in most parts of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, with comfortable 50s elsewhere:

Sunday highs will be in the lower 70s in most of western and southern Minnesota, as well as parts of western Wisconsin, and the 60s elsewhere:

The dew points on Sunday will be in the comfortable 40s and 50s:

Probability of rain on the weekend?

Isolated showers are expected in Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Saturday and Saturday nights. Sometimes there can also be a few thunderstorms. Some of the isolated shower activity and an isolated thunderstorm could last through Sunday morning, particularly in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Also in southeast Minnesota and west Wisconsin there can be some very isolated showers on Sunday afternoons.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) predictive model shows the potential rain pattern from 6 a.m. on Saturday to noon on Sunday:

In the NAM model, pay more attention to the dispersed nature of the rain than to the exact location of the rain at any given time.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and you can see updated weather information on the MPR News Live weather blog.

Fall colors update

My wife and I saw some areas of breathtaking fall color on our North Shore trip last week.

Our fall colors usually don’t arrive in the Twin Cities metropolitan area until October. The percent change to fall color is currently highest in northern Minnesota. Here’s the latest Fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:

Remember, all deciduous trees are included in the fall color report, not just maples. See Wisconsin fall color information here.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates every Saturday and Sunday at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. on MPR News.