According to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, there is a risk of strong to severe thunderstorms on Monday across parts of northern Minnesota. It is still quite early, so things could change, but it maybe a little more unsettled as we slide into the early part of next week, including the 4th of July on Tuesday.

The simulated radar from AM Saturday to Midday Sunday shows mostly dry and quiet weather across the state with the exception of the far NW corner of the state later into the weekend. The thunder threat will increase even more as we head into the early part of next week. Stay tuned...

Here's the precipitation outlook through AM Monday, which shows very little precipitation across the state. However, rainfall potential will increase as we slide into early next week.

Thanks to several days and weeks of hot and extremely dry weather, there remains a burning restriction across northeastern Minnesota.

It has been an extremely dry stretch of weather across much of the station over the last several weeks. Only a few locations have seen decent pockets of rain, but the drought is expanding. Severe drought conditions have popped up across parts of central Minnesota with moderate drought now in place across parts of the Twin Cities.

The map below shows the 60 day precipitation anomaly, which indicates that some locations are nearly -3.00" to nearly -6.00" below average (in red) since mid May. This is where drought conditions are expanding.

Believe it or not, the MSP Airport only saw 0.93" of rain for the month of June, which is good enough for the 2nd driest June on record. Note that there have only been 3 Junes on record that have seen less 1" of rain since records began in the 1870s.

The weather outlook for the Twin Cities on Saturday, July 1st shows warm and dry weather in place with partly cloudy skies.

The hourly temps through the day Saturday shows temps starting around 70F in the morning with highs warming to upper 80s by the afternoon. It'll be a mostly dry and warm day with northerly winds around 10mph.

Temps across the region on Saturday will warm into 80s, which will be around +5F to +10F above average for early July. It'll also be a mostly dry day across much of the region.

Temperatures for the Twin Cities will continue to remain at or slightly above average for this time of the year with readings in the 80s and low/mid 90s. The warmest day will arrive on Monday with highs in the mid 90s. Monday could be the hottest day of 2023 so far!

Dewpoints will remain sticky into the first full week of July with readings in the low to mid 60s.

The NBM extended temperature outlook for Minneapolis shows above average temperatures continuing into early July. The hottest day will be Monday with readings in the mid 90s before we cool down into the upper 70s and lower 80slater next week.

Weather conditions in the Midwest will be hot and dry through the first weekend of July before chances of showers and storms increase early next week. We'll cool down to slightly below average levels later next week with another chance of rain into the 2nd weekend of July.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14-day temperature outlook shows warmer-than-average temperatures across the Southern US, while cooler temps develop across parts of the Central US and the Ohio Valley.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14 Day precipitation outlook shows more active weather possible across parts of the northern tier of the nation, especially from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast.

According to the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities, we just endured our 2nd driest June on record with only 0.93 inches of rain falling at the MSP Airport. Interestingly, there have only been 2 other Junes on record that have received less than 1 inch of rain; 1988 (0.22") and 1912 (0.94").

Drought conditions continue to expand with 45 percent of the state in a Moderate Drought (including the Twin Cities), while 5 percent of the state is in a severe drought.

We need rain, no question and our next best shot comes early next week with a few strong storms possible on the 4th of July. In the meantime, the hottest day of 2023 arrives Monday.

SATURDAY: Hot & Hazy. Winds: N 5-10. High: 90.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy and quiet. Winds: NNE 5-10. Low: 69.

SUNDAY: Welcome to the Dog Days of early July. Winds: SW 5-10. High: 92.

TUESDAY: 4th of July thunder risk. Some strong. Winds: WSW 5-10. Wake-up: 71. High 91.

WEDNESDAY: AM Storm. Gradual PM clearing & cooler. Winds: NW 7-12. Wake-up: 67. High: 80.

THURSDAY: More sun. Feels pretty good. Winds: W 5-10. Wake-up: 61. High 79.

FRIDAY: Spotty showers and a few rumbles. Winds: SE 5-10. Wake-up: 59. High 83.

July 1st

July 1st

Average High: 83F (Record: 100F set in 1883)

Average Low: 65F (Record: 46F set in 1969 & 1995)

Record Rainfall: 2.85" set in 1997

Record Snowfall: NONE

Sunrise: 5:30am

Sunset: 9:03pm

Hours of Daylight: ~15 hours & 32 minutes

Daylight LOST since yesterday: 29 Seconds

Daylight LOST since Summer Solstice (June 21st): ~ 4 minutes

July 3 at 6:39 a.m. CDT - The Full Buck Moon, when the new antlers of buck deer push out from their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, thunderstorms being now most frequent. Sometimes also called the Full Hay Moon.

See more from Space.com HERE:

Temperatures on Saturday will be well above average across the Central and Southern US, where a number of excessive heat concerns are in place and where a number of record highs will still be possible.

The weather outlook on Saturday will be a little unsettled across parts of the Central US. Some of the storms could be strong to severe with large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes.

The weather outlook through Sunday shows unsettled weather across parts of the Central US with strong to severe storms possible. There could also be locally heavy rainfall and isolated flood concerns.

"Artificial intelligence has the potential to accelerate world-altering innovations such as "limitless" clean energy and better meteorological models that help people deal with the effects of climate change, Google DeepMind executive Colin Murdoch said. "We're using AI to predict weather — much more accurate weather predictions to help communities and companies around the world adapt to increasingly extreme weather," Murdoch, the chief business officer of the Alphabet Inc. AI unit, said on BNN Bloomberg Television. Murdoch, who was visiting Toronto for the Collision technology conference, also lauded a partnership between Google DeepMind and the University of Toronto in medicine. Researchers are using AI to better understand proteins in the human body in an effort to advance liver cancer treatments, he said."

See more from Bloomberg HERE:

"Much of the U.S. is under siege from extreme weather. The big picture: Heat warnings and watches are in effect for over 100 million people as a record-breaking heat wave sweeping the southern U.S. continues to expand. Meanwhile, air quality alerts have been issued for an estimated 80 million others as wildfire smoke from Canada chokes much of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Ohio Valley and even the Southeast. Air quality has deteriorated Thursday all the way south to Georgia, with Code Yellow and Red conditions widespread. At least 13 heat-related deaths in Texas and one in Louisiana have been reported, as the CDC recorded 1,039 heat-related illnesses per 100,000 emergency department visits in the Lone Star State on Wednesday and 847 per 100,000 for the period of June 18-24. State of play: The heat dome, a high-pressure area aloft that's lingered over Texas for some three weeks, has expanded across the U.S. South and over to Florida as smoke from Canada's worst-ever fire season threatens the Midwest and mid-Atlantic — with a rare Code Red air quality alert declared for D.C. Thursday."

See more from Axios HERE:

Out-of-control fires have erupted in almost every part of Canada, putting the country on track for its worst season in more than 30 years. A total of 490 wildfires were burning on Tuesday, more than half of which were considered out of control. Canada is facing its most devastating wildfire season on record with hundreds of blazes raging across the nation. The country with nine per cent of the world's forests is engulfed in massive plumes of smoke, and the season has yet to reach its peak. Wildfires are common during this time of year when warmer, dry weather creates the perfect environment for blazes, especially in Canada's forests.