Minnesota weather: The heat is on this weekend

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - While we will stray away from record-breaking high temperatures, we will still experience a hot and steamy July weekend ahead.

What is significant about this upcoming hot weekend is the potential to hit 90 degrees so late in the year. The last time we had a 90-degree temperature occur this far into July was in 1993, when we didn’t hit any 90-degree temperatures. If we look for a year that we hit a 90-degree temperature during the year, the next latest into the year was 1967, when 90 degrees arrived on July 21.

If and when we hit 90 degrees, this year we are looking at being in the top 20 for the latest to hit 90 degrees within a year (with some of those in recorded history featuring zero 90-degree temps or above).

The last time we hit 90 degrees in the Twin Cities was 285 days ago, on Oct. 1, 2023, when we hit 92 degrees. That was a record high for Oct. 1.

Dew points will be high this weekend, which will help create heat indices reaching into the mid-90s on Saturday and then near 100 degrees on Sunday. This is what it will feel like outside. While dew points soar into the upper 60s to some lower/mid-70s this weekend, they won’t be the highest, or even close to the highest recorded in the state. The highest dew point was at both the Madison and Moorhead weather stations, which was a whopping 88 degrees on July 19, 2011. That same day the Twin Cities metro had its highest dew point which reached 82 degrees.

That summer was particularly humid. Despite the actual temperatures being cooler that year, the higher dew points lead to a hot feeling summer. This is why we focus so much on dew point when discussing summer heat. Thermometers don’t tell the whole story.