The wind will die down and the extreme humidity will stay away, but temperatures will remain above average as we head into the last half of the week. A few isolated thunderstorms are possible Thursday night into early Friday, but our best chance of rain will be late Saturday and Saturday night. Next week will be mostly dry and a bit cooler with highs in the 80s.

The rest of today will be sunny and breezy with highs in the upper 80s and northwesterly wind gusts to 35 mph. While it is still warm, it is quite a bit more comfortable than yesterday. Dew points this afternoon are in the upper 50s, compared to the sweltering mid 70s yesterday. Tonight will be mostly clear with temperatures dropping into the mid 60s by daybreak Thursday.

Thursday will be a very pleasant day. Mostly sunny, not as windy and even less humid, with highs climbing back into the upper 80s.

Heat and humidity will return for Friday and that could fuel a few isolated thunderstorms late Thursday night into Friday morning and again late Friday into Friday night. These storms will be very random and isolated. Friday will be sunny, warm and humid with highs back in the low to mid 90s.

Our best chance for some decent, measurable rain will come as a cold front moves across our region on Saturday and Saturday night. Rainfall amounts and the potential for a few strong to severe thunderstorms will depend on the timing of the front. As of right now, it looks as though the best chance for heavy rain and isolated severe storms will be to our south and east. We’re still a few days away, however, so that could change. As of right now, I’d say there’s about a 50/50 shot that any random location across southern Minnesota could get a thunderstorm that produces a quarter inch of rain, with heavier amounts likely south of I-90 and east of I-35. Again, it’s early and that could change. We will have updates as we get closer to the weekend.

Long range models continue to hint that next week will be pleasant but mostly dry. While a few random, isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible , especially on Tuesday, we will likely be mostly dry with highs, generally, in the 80s through most of next week.