Wildfire smoke and summer warmth this weekend

A few showers and thunderstorms will move through southern Minnesota and northern Iowa Friday afternoon and evening before skies begin to clear after Midnight into Saturday morning.

There is an Air Quality Alert through the weekend due to Canadian wildfire smoke. This time, the smoke is coming from wildfires in Alberta and British Columbia. While the sky will be sunny through the weekend, that sunshine will be filtered through the smoke, so there will be more haze than blue sky. Temperatures are going to remain seasonably warm with highs in the low-80s in both southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.

Rain chances are very low through this forecast period. After Friday evening’s showers and a few thunderstorms, there won’t be much opportunity for rain until, possibly, late next week into next weekend.