MARSHALL — The Marshall area came close to some record high temperatures on Friday, and could break a record today, according to National Weather Service forecasts.

The NWS office in Sioux Falls is warning the area about the heat this weekend, with high temperatures forecast to reach 91 degrees in much of Lyon County today.

There’s also an elevated risk of fires on Saturday, with dry conditions and wind gusts reaching as high as 38 miles per hour in the Marshall area, the NWS said.

Temperatures in Marshall reached a high of 90 degrees on Friday, the NWS reported. That’s unusually warm for early October, but doesn’t surpass the city’s record high temperature for Oct. 3.

According to NOAA data, the highest maximum temperature recorded for Marshall on Oct. 3 was 94 degrees, in 2023.

Marshall still could set a new temperature record today. The NWS forecast a high temperature of 91 degrees for Saturday. The record high for Oct. 4 was 89 degrees. That record was set in 2018.

The normal high temperatures for this time of year are in the high 60s, NOAA data said.

There are a couple of factors that help lead to high temperatures like the ones this weekend, said NWS meteorologist Andrew Samet. Samet said the area has high pressure aloft in the atmosphere, which can lead to warm weather. At the same time, there isn’t much humidity right now, which means the sun is able to heat up the ground faster.

The NWS was cautioning people to stay hydrated and take frequent breaks if working outside this weekend. The heat could cause concerns for sensitive groups like older adults, young children and outdoor workers.

This weekend’s heat doesn’t look like it will stick around long, however. “A cold front is moving in this weekend, so we’ll finally get more seasonable temperatures,” Samet said.

In Marshall, daytime high temperatures are forecast to be back down in the 60s and 70s starting Monday.

Records did fall in other parts of the state. The high temperature of 90 degrees in New Ulm broke a 28-year-old heat record.

“A lot of cities are breaking or tying heat records,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Tyler Hasenstein. “It’s not real unusual to have weather this warm this time of year, but it’s unusual to have it for this long. We’ve had the same air mass over us for the past couple weeks.”