Forecast First Alert: Strong winds, high fire danger Saturday evening

Here’s your Saturday night forecast for March 16, 2024 from Minnesota’s Weather Authority and Meteorologist Matt Serwe.

A Forecast First Alert continues through sunset Saturday for the strong winds and high fire danger from the metro through southwest Minnesota.

Wind gusts continue to top 40 mph across most of Minnesota Saturday evening. Combine that with the dry and dormant vegetation, the fire danger is high through sunset. Once the sun goes down, the relative humidity will be a little higher, and the fire threat a bit lower. Wind will still gust 25 to 35 mph tonight through Sunday, driving in chilly air. By Sunday morning, wind chills fall into the single digits across most of the state. Highs stay in the mid 30s through the afternoon, with wind chills making it feel more like the mid to upper teens. Monday morning will also start with single digit wind chills, so make sure to dig out that bigger winter jacket.

Most of the upcoming week will feature something we have not had a lot of this winter: below average temperatures! Highs stay in the upper 30s to low 40s for several days. Tuesday is the only exception, but the winds will be stronger that day. The first half of the week is dry. The second half of the week has a few chances for snow, possibly mixing with rain at times. Accumulating snow is possible on Thursday, but we are still too far out to put out snow totals. Keep checking the forecast over the coming days to see how much snow we could get later in the week.