[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czYg3hdhCkg&w=640&h=480]
DREARY FRIDAY: Another day goes by and another day of cloudy and showery weather across the state. The rain won’t be as widespread of as heavy as it has been the last two days but the cloudiness is expected to continue its reign over the state for much of the day. There may be some partial clearing late in the far western counties, otherwise it will remain cloudy with a few scattered showers about and highs remaining in the upper 40s through the upper 50s.
WEEKEND WARMUP: The weekend will bring back the sunshine and the mild temperatures we’d had prior to this upper level feature that has been making its presence known. Temperatures on Saturday will make the upper 50s to upper 60s, with Sunday seeing 60s to lower 70s across the state, both days with mostly sunny skies.
HERE COME THE RAINS: Not to be confused with “here come the brides” but the rain chances return for an encore presentation with a stall frontal system that won’t go away. The shower and embedded thunderstorm chances will NOT be all day as there will be plenty of dry hours and sunshine to go around. Highs will remain in the 60s to lower 70s through Wednesday before a fairly strong storm moves into the Plains from the west. The center of the storm will move through SD into ND and MN on Thursday with a cold front sweeping through on Thursday afternoon. Some showers and perhaps thunderstorms will likely accompany the front. It’s too early to determine severe weather and based on the storm this past weekend and the hyperbole of severe weather, we’re not going to take a stab at that at this time.
OH NO THE VORTEXES ARE BACK: Even into the 8-16 day outlook aka Voo-Doo land of model runs, the storm mentioned on Thursday seemingly likes the upper Midwest and western Great Lakes, because it continues to bring a cold rain or snow for several days just to our north and northeast. This will bring much colder air in about a week to ten days time with scattered clouds possible. More on this will be mentioned on later IWR’s when we have more confidence.