Weather
Duluth, MN Weather: Winter Waits After Wet Start to November
DULUTH, Minn. — Dense fog is creating hazardous driving conditions around Duluth early Sunday before a much wetter pattern brings widespread rain, gusty winds and even a chance of thunderstorms to nor
By Miles Carter · 2026-11-01T10:58:24.248Z
DULUTH, Minn. — Dense fog is creating hazardous driving conditions around Duluth early Sunday before a much wetter pattern brings widespread rain, gusty winds and even a chance of thunderstorms to northeast Minnesota Monday through Wednesday.
The National Weather Service in Duluth has a Dense Fog Advisory in effect until 9 a.m. CST Sunday, Nov. 1 , for Carlton and South St. Louis counties, including Duluth. Visibility could fall to one quarter to one half mile , making travel hazardous.
Wet Pattern Builds Nov. 2 Conditions improve later Sunday, with patchy morning fog followed by mostly cloudy skies and a high near 59. Rain chances begin increasing again late Sunday night.
Monday becomes substantially wetter. Rain is likely during the morning before showers spread across the area during the afternoon. The NWS places precipitation chances at 100% , with a high near 54 and east winds gusting as high as 25 mph.
The Weather Service's Hazardous Weather Outlook also identifies the potential for isolated embedded thunderstorms Monday afternoon into Monday night , mainly south of U.S. Highway 2. The storms are currently expected to remain non severe.
100% Rain Monday Night, 90% Tuesday Monday night remains very wet, with another 100% precipitation chance and thunderstorms possible after 9 p.m. Rainfall amounts between one half and three quarters of an inch are possible.
Tuesday stays unsettled with a 90% chance of showers and a high near 57. Showers remain likely Tuesday night and Wednesday, when Duluth reaches only around 51.
Cooler air then settles in more firmly. Thursday reaches about 48, followed by 45 Friday and 47 Saturday, with overnight lows dropping into the upper 30s.
That gives Duluth a distinctive first week progression: 59 Sunday, heavy rain Monday and Tuesday, then highs mainly in the 40s and low 50s from Nov. 4–7.
Warm, Drier Signal Still Favored Nov. 8–14 Despite the cooler finish to the first week, NOAA's broader Upper Midwest outlook continues to favor a very warm first half of November , while the precipitation pattern may transition toward drier conditions during Nov. 8–14 .
The contrast is important: the November monthly outlook favors wetter conditions across portions of the Upper Midwest, but the Nov. 8–14 outlook shifts toward below normal precipitation across a broad part of the region.
That does not mean Duluth will avoid cold nights or early season snow. It means the average temperature during Nov. 8–14 remains tilted above normal even after this week's cooler spell.
As Thanksgiving and holiday travel season approach, the larger question remains: when will northern Minnesota's first sustained taste of winter finally arrive?