Justin Liles: Air quality, severe storms, & extreme heat!

There are two major weather elements to discuss. The first is another Air Quality Alert. Heavy ground-level smoke from wildfires in the Northwest Territories of Canada is moving quickly across southern Manitoba and towards the Minnesota border. The smoke is expected to reach northwest Minnesota around noon Tuesday. The smoke should reach as far south as Bemidji and as far east as Ely. The heaviest smoke will be across the northwest corner of the state. Winds across the region will become southerly by Wednesday morning and the smoke will quickly retreat and clear the state by 10 AM. Another wave of smoke is expected to move into northern Minnesota late Wednesday evening.

The second is the threat for scattered showers with isolated thunderstorms will be possible late this afternoon through the evening in the MN Arrowhead. High temps on Wednesday will be very warm in the 80s for most. A cold front sweeping through in the afternoon and evening is expected to develop a line of showers and storms. A few storms could become strong to severe, capable of producing damaging winds to 70 mph and large hail up to 1.5″ in diameter. Following the cold front, sunny skies are expected on Thursday with cooler temps.

TONIGHT
Partly cloudy, with a low around 62. West wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
WEDNESDAY
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 5pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. Windy, with a southwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT
Showers and thunderstorms before 10pm, then a slight chance of showers between 10pm and 11pm. Some of the storms could be severe and produce heavy rainfall. Low around 55. Breezy, with a northwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
THURSDAY
Mostly sunny, with a high near 73. Breezy, with a northwest wind around 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
FRIDAY
Sunny, with a high near 79. Breezy, with a south wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
SATURDAY
Sunny, with a high near 90. South wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
SUNDAY
Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Breezy, with an east wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
MONDAY
Mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Breezy, with an east wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.