Wild temperature swings ahead!

Living in Minnesota comes with experiencing some wild day to day temperature changes, and this upcoming week is certainly going to serve as a testament. The temperatures that we start the week with are going to be nothing like the temperatures we end the week with. There also is a promising chance of rain in the forecast for the middle of the week! Finally an interesting stretch of weather around here!

High temperatures will be slightly warmer Sunday than they were today, with highs in the low to mid 60F’s. Thanks to an upper level high pressure system passing overhead, skies will remain generally clear, providing us with plenty of sunshine! It also will be quite breezy, with south winds from 10 to 20 mph, gusting up to 25 mph at times.

The breezy conditions continue Monday, with out of the south still at around 15 to 20 mph, gusting up to 30 mph at times. These southerly winds will bring warmer air northward into our area, resulting in high temperatures in the low 70F’s Monday afternoon.

Breezy conditions continue through Tuesday, with winds once again out of the south around 15 to 25 mph, gusting up to 35 mph at times. These strong winds will continue to bring very warm air northward, as well as additional moisture. Because of this, highs could easily reach and top 80F Tuesday afternoon. This would be nearing a record high in Rochester, as well as elsewhere across the Weather First area. Lows Tuesday night will be near the record warmest low temperature for October 29th, potentially only dropping to around 60F!

A deep trough of low pressure begins to approach from the west Tuesday into Wednesday. A powerful cold front will proceed it, and track through our area sometime on Wednesday. Exact timing is uncertain, with model guidance ranging from a morning frontal passage, to an evening frontal passage. A morning frontal passage would mean cooler temperatures Wednesday, while an evening passage would mean warm air sticking around until Wednesday evening.

Regardless, this cold front will send temperatures crashing Wednesday night into Thursday, with daily highs on Thursday only making it into the upper 40F’s for most. It’s going to be a chilly and breezy Halloween, with temperatures 30F’s and 40F’s by trick-or-treating.

Rain should be out of the area by Thursday, with sunshine expected to arrive by Thursday afternoon. We warm back up into the mid 50F’s Friday, with breezy southerly winds anticipated. The bottom line for this next week is it will be breezy, warm to start, chilly to finish, and a probable chance of rain for Wednesday.