Here’s your Wednesday evening forecast for September 20, 2023 from Minnesota’s Weather Authority and Meteorologist Matt Serwe.

An Air Quality Alert is in effect for northwest Minnesota through Thursday afternoon. Wildfire smoke will likely make the air quality poor to unhealthy.

There is a front stalled across the Northern Plains through northwest Minnesota. North of that front, it is a little cooler, but Canadian wildfire smoke is making air quality poor. Anywhere north of an Alexandria to Brainerd to Hibbing line could have poor air quality through Thursday afternoon. South of the front, it feels like the middle of summer. Highs return to the low and mid 80s in the Twin Cities on Thursday, and reach the mid to upper 80s in southwest Minnesota. We get one more day near 80° on Friday before we see a pattern change.

That change brings widespread steady to heavy rain across Minnesota and Wisconsin this weekend. There is even a small chance for storms that have small hail and strong winds along the Iowa border on Saturday. Specifics on exactly when the rain moves in will become clearer in the next day or two. However, rain totals from a half inch to an inch are likely across most of Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin this weekend. In the western half of Minnesota, some totals could top two inches in spots! With the rain, temperatures drop a bit, but stay in the seasonable upper 60s and low 70s.