Summer’s final week serves up heat and humidity in the Twin Cities

Summer isn’t going to fade away.

The last week of the season will serve up a dose of heat and humidity, making it feel more like July than mid-September before the calendar officially turns to fall on Sunday.

Sunday’s high in the Twin Cities hit 88 degrees, and a streak of days with temperatures in the 80s is on tap for the rest of the week before a cool-down starts Saturday. By Sunday, when fall begins at 7:43 a.m., highs in the metro may not get out of the 60s, or 20 degrees cooler than Monday’s forecasted high of 88 degrees.

Despite dropping to slightly below-normal temperatures for a day or two next weekend, no major cold waves are on the horizon. The last half of September will likely remain warm, according to the Climate Prediction Center, which predicts temperatures will trend above normal.

The normal high for this time of the year is in the low 70s, the National Weather Service said.

October is also expected to get off to a warmer-than-normal start, according to the Climate Prediction Center.

Dry conditions will continue in the metro through Wednesday, with a chance of rain on Thursday and Friday. Just three-hundredths of an inch of rain has fallen in the metro since the start of September after a very wet start to summer. The lack of rain recently has led the U.S. Drought Monitor to classify the Arrowhead region of northeastern Minnesota and counties in southeastern and southwestern Minnesota as “Abnormally Dry.”

“Although our excessively wet spring caused leaf diseases on some species like aspen and oaks, it fortunately didn’t cause much leaf loss,” the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said. “This year’s rainy growing season means trees have potential to maximize their color production.”

As of Monday, leaves were starting to turn in a sliver of Lake and St. Louis counties on the Canadian border where between 25% and 50% of trees are showing peak color. Some color also is showing up across northwestern Minnesota, according to the DNR’s Fall Color Map.