As June Approaches, Parts Of Minnesota Are Under Frost Alert

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- On Thursday, the Minnesota State Fair kicks off Memorial Day weekend by allowing foot traffic to the fairgrounds for the first time since September 2019. Many Minnesotans are getting ready to head north to take a day off for the holiday.

And they're likely to be met with temperatures more commonly associated with March than the cusp of June.

WCCO director of meteorology Mike Augustyniak says that parts of Minnesota could see below-freezing temperatures overnight going into Friday. Augustyniak says that the forecast calls for 28 degrees in Hibbing, 32 in Duluth, and 39 in the Twin Cities.

The most recent time that the temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport dipped into the 30s during the last week of May was back in 1999 -- on May 26 that year, the temperature dipped to 39 degrees.

A number of counties in the northern part of the state are under a freeze warning or a freeze watch overnight. That includes areas like Duluth and Brainerd.

As if the cold temperatures weren't enough, Thursday morning also saw precipitation in the state, but Augustyniak says the state is actually in need of some moisture. Roughly two-thirds of Minnesota is currently running abnormally dry, and the southern part of the state along Interstate 90 is actually in a state of moderate drought.

Augustyniak said Thursday's rain, which will mainly affect only the southern half of the state, should die out by the evening, with the possibility for some showers from time to time overnight.

And, yes, there's the possibility that parts of the state in the southeastern stretch could see some snowflakes mixed in with the rain overnight, though it's unlikely any of it will stick.