Warm air, rain chances to start this week with colder air coming

Here’s your Sunday evening forecast for October 22, 2023 from Minnesota’s Weather Authority and Meteorologist Matt Serwe.

This is going to be quite the week of weather in Minnesota. For the Twin Cities, highs start in the 60s for a few days, and then drop into the 40s by the weekend. Plan accordingly.

Scattered rain showers are moving through Minnesota Sunday night. They should get to the Twin Cities metro after 10:00 PM. A few rumbles of thunder are possible overnight into early Monday morning. Early commuters might have to deal with a little rain, but most of it should be east of the metro by sunrise. Sun is back Monday afternoon, with highs climbing into the low and mid 60s. The jet stream will be parked over the region through the first half of the week, keeping more rounds of rain and storms over us through the middle of the week.

When a warm front lifts north on Tuesday afternoon, there could be enough energy for stronger storms across the southern half of Minnesota. Some of those storms could have large hail and locally heavy rain. Rain chances drop on Wednesday, but I can’t rule out a couple light showers south of the Twin Cities. Another wave with widespread rain and a few storms arrives on Thursday. Rain totals could range from 0.50” to 1.5” across Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin this week. The heavier totals will be where thunderstorms develop Tuesday and Thursday.

Strong northwest winds follow the rain on Friday, driving in a shot of colder air. Temperatures likely stay in the upper 30s and low 40s north of St. Cloud, and in the low to mid 40s in the Twin Cities. Highs stay in the low 40s through next weekend, and likely through Halloween. With such cold air over the region, we have the potential to see some snow mixing in with any rain that develops. There is no accumulating snow in the forecast right now.