502 FXUS63 KDLH 040558 AFDDLHArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Duluth MN 1258 AM CDT Sat Oct 4 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Hot, summer-like weather through this weekend. Record high temperatures are likely today and Saturday.
- Showers and storms in north-central Minnesota Saturday evening into Sunday. A strong storm may be possible Saturday evening and night.
- Gusty winds this weekend, with strong wind gusts of 30 to 45 mph expected Sunday.
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.DISCUSSION... Issued at 241 PM CDT Fri Oct 3 2025
Today - Tonight:
Unusually warm temperatures for early October have developed today as surface high pressure and a ridge aloft sit over the region. Afternoon highs will top out in the low to upper 80s for locations away from the Lake Superior vicinity. Meanwhile, onshore flow around the Lake will keep high temperatures immediately near the Lake in the 70s to around 80F. Onshore winds pick up a bit this evening, so anyone trying to escape the heat by swimming near Duluth and Superior should be mindful of the potential for rip currents developing. Several locations should approach or break record high temperatures today, particularly in north- and east-central Minnesota. The Northland should remain dry, with the exceptions of a few sprinkles or very light rain showers near the international border tonight near a stationary front. Little to no accumulations expected due to dry air in the low levels of the atmosphere.
Saturday - Sunday:
A few impactful weather concerns for this weekend as the result of the ridge slowly sliding to our east and a negatively-tilted trough and low pressure system sliding through just to our west: 1) very warm to hot weather, 2) very strong winds and fairly low relative humidities potentially leading to near-critical fire weather conditions, and 3) a low potential for a strong storm in far north-central Minnesota Saturday evening and Saturday night.
Hot high temperatures on Saturday and warm overnight lows Saturday night could both approach or break records, as well. These temperatures will be 20F to 25F above normal for early October. Temperatures remain well-above average in the mid-70s to low 80s on Sunday as a cold front associated with the low pressure passing just to our west moves through the Northland. Temperatures fall very quickly behind the cold front for Sunday night.
A strong surface pressure gradient associated with the approaching weather system will lead to increasing southwesterly winds on Saturday into early Sunday, with west to northwest winds behind the cold front Sunday PM. Winds of 15-25 mph with gusts to 30-40 mph are forecast for Saturday into Saturday night, with even stronger wind gusts of 35-45 mph for daytime Sunday as the cold front moves through before winds drop off quickly Sunday night. We will need to continue monitoring for any Wind Advisory potential, but the gusts to around 45 mph look to be on a more isolated basis with the current forecast. Afternoon relative humidity on Saturday and Sunday should generally remain above 30-35%, but in combination with the hot temperatures and very gusty winds could still lead to near- critical fire weather conditions. Any fires that do start in these conditions could rapidly spread. Therefore, use extreme caution if burning outdoors this weekend.
For precipitation, the track of the low pressure still looks to remain northwest of the Northland, keeping the shower and thunderstorm potential confined to far northern Minnesota Saturday evening into Saturday night. A strong storm or two with small hail and gusty winds can`t be ruled out in far north- central Minnesota due to stronger shear and some modest elevated instability, but most of this activity looks to remain west of our area. Some shower and isolated storm potential lingers into Sunday for the Northland--mainly in northern Minnesota--as the cold front moves through, but a fairly dry atmospheric profile keeps these chances low (10-30%) for areas south of the Iron Range.
Next Week:
Behind the cold front, cooler conditions closer to normal for early October return along with dry conditions for the first half of the week. Frost/freeze potential return in this timeframe with lows in the 30s, particularly on Tuesday night where widespread lows below freezing have the best chance of occurring. There remains a lack of appreciable rainfall until at least late next week, so lower relative humidities and fire weather concerns persist through at least the first half of next week.
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.AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SUNDAY/... Issued at 1258 AM CDT Sat Oct 4 2025
A bit of fog and low stratus has made its way to DLH, and it may linger for a few hours. There is low confidence about when it may retreat. We should have light upsloping winds continuing, but also given the localized nature of it, the fog and stratus may only impact the terminal in scattered bursts through around sunrise. Expect temporary MVFR/IFR conditions that may gradually improve.
Outside of fog at DLH, the main impacts through the period will be gusty winds and LLWS. Pretty persistent southerly winds are expected with some occasional drops in speed and gusts at night, but otherwise gusting anywhere from 20-30 kt during the day. LLWS is expected through mid-morning, then again after sunset this evening at most terminals.
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.MARINE /FOR NEAR SHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR/... Issued at 241 PM CDT Fri Oct 3 2025
Northeast winds funneling down the southwest arm of Lake Superior are expected to gust up to 20-25 kt this evening along with 1-3 ft waves, so a Small Craft Advisory remains in effect for Two Harbors to the Twin Ports to Port Wing. We will also need to watch an area of dense fog near Isle Royale that satellite shows moving southwest. Should this trend persist, some dense fog advisories may be needed this evening and/or tonight.
Rapidly changing and hazardous conditions arrive for Saturday and Sunday. Winds shift on Saturday with strong southerly winds developing and building large waves for all boaters. Small Craft Advisories will likely be needed starting Saturday morning as winds and waves ramp up. Winds become even stronger for Sunday, with gusts of 30-40 kt and even higher waves, particularly for the North Shore. These winds turn westerly late Sunday as a cold front moves through and then northwesterly Sunday night into Monday with winds gradually weakening behind the front. A Gale Watch has been issued for all of the western Superior nearshore waters for Sunday into Sunday evening.
For the open water discussion, refer to the NWS Marquette Area Forecast Discussion at weather.gov/mqt.
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.CLIMATE... Issued at 241 PM CDT Thu Oct 2 2025
The very warm to hot period this weekend is creating a forecast of some likely-to-be broken record high and warm low temperatures in the Northland. Below are the days which have the highest chances of multiple stations tying or breaking these temperature records. These forecast temperatures are about 20 degrees F (highs) and about 25 degrees (warm lows) above normal for early October.
Record High Temperatures:
October 3: Forecast Current Records KDLH: 80 82/2023 KINL: 82 84/2023 KBRD: 87 84/2023 KHIB: 81 83/1953
October 4: KDLH: 84 83/1922 KINL: 85 82/2011 KBRD: 88 82/2011 KHIB: 84 78/2011
Record Warm Low Temperatures:
October 4: Forecast Current Records KDLH: 57 58/1914 KINL: 63 60/1914 KBRD: 68 60/1914 KHIB: 59 54/1969 KASX: 57 59/1931
October 5: KASX: 62 56/1975
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.DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...None. WI...None. MARINE...Gale Watch from Sunday morning through Sunday evening for LSZ121-140>148-150.
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DISCUSSION...Rothstein AVIATION...JDS MARINE...Rothstein CLIMATE...Wolfe
NWS DLH Office Area Forecast Discussion