It feels really summery today, and the warm weather will continue for several more days. We now have a 6-10 day outlook that takes us from July 4th through July 8th. Here’s the outlook, from the ClimatePredictionCenter of the National Weather Service:
You can see that there’s a good chance of above normal temperatures for Minnesota and Wisconsin. I took a peek at the projected upper-air pattern for next week, and I agree that warm temperatures are a good bet. Swimmers, boaters and anglers will be enjoying a summery holiday week…I can’t wait for the fireworks!
It's time to celebrate daylight! The Summer Solstice happens at today (June 20). The direct rays of the sun reach their northern-most point on the earth’s surface today, and the time between sunrise and sunset maxes out. Here in the Twin Cities, we have a whopping 15 hours and 36 minutes of daylight!
This is a great time of year for outdoor fun. You can sneak in some golf, biking, even some water fun after you get home from work. At LakeMinnetonka on Monday, I noticed a kayaker still paddling along, even though it was 9pm:
(Left-click on the photo for detailed view)
Sunset at MSP airport remains at for several days, then the sun begins to set earlier as we move through July and into autumn. Here are some sunset times for MSP airport:
June 20:
July 15:
August 15:
September 15:
I used a sunrise/sunset table generated at the U.S. Naval Observatory web site (USNO). I plugged in the lat/lon for MSP airport, W 93 degrees, 13 minutes and N 44 degrees, 53 minutes. You can also just put in a city name and state to get a sunrise/sunset table for your location.
If the sun seems to set later in the evening when you’re up at the cabin, it’s not just your imagination. Plug some northwestern Minnesota city names into the USNO site and you’ll discover June and July sunsets that are 15-25 minutes later than our sunset times here in the Twin Cities. If you really like your daylight, go north of the Arctic Circle…the sun never sets there this time of year!
You might have heard that a severe t-storm is possible this afternoon and/or this evening in the Twin Cities. Meteorologists can’t forecast exactly who will receive damaging winds, large hail or tornadoes several hours in advance, but we often have a good idea about which areas have the highest risk of severe weather.
One source of severe weather risk info is the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) of The National Weather Service. The men and women of SPC are based in Norman, Oklahoma. They continually monitor weather data and forecast models, and issue severe weather outlooks and severe t-storm and tornado watches.
This is a good time to talk about SPC products. The SPC issued this severe thunderstorm watch valid until tonight (Thursday, June 14), which includes the Twin Cities.
The watch may be modified as we go into this evening, so check with SPC or your favorite severe weather info source for updates.
We've all seen SPC severe weather outlooks on TV weathercasts. Minnesota and western Wisconsin are in a "slight risk" area for severe weather today and tonight. SPC also issues outlooks for specific types of severe weather. Here is the wind outlook that SPC issued today (Thursday, June 14) for this afternoon through tonight:
The red-shaded has a 30% or greater chance of damaging thunderstorm winds or wind gusts within 25 miles of any point.
Here is the hail outlook for this afternoon through tonight:
The red-shaded area has a 30% or greater chance of one-inch diameter hail within 25 miles of any point. The area within the black lines also has a 10% or greater chance of two-inch diameter hail.
Here is the tornado outlook for this afternoon and tonight:
The brown-shaded area has a 5% or greater chance of a tornado within 25 miles of any point.
Any severe weather in the Twin Cities this afternoon and/or tonight would tend to be very scattered, but on days like this it's wise to be storm aware. If possible, keep a weather radio nearby so that you’re alerted to severe weather warnings. Some radio and TV stations will also give you severe weather warnings and storm details. Internet sites and phone apps are other sources of warnings. If you hear a siren, take cover and then get the warning details, but don’t rely on sirens alone as your source of warnings…they weren’t meant to warn people who are indoors.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, 2012 was the warmest meteorological Spring (March through May) in Twin Cities history. Statewide, it was our second warmest Spring. The National Climatic Data Center reviewed U.S. temperature data for the past 118 years. Here is a graphic based on that data…118 on the graphic means that particular state saw its warmest Spring in 2012:
Minnesota’s 117 means that, statewide, we had our second warmest Spring. A whopping 31 states had their warmest Springs in the past 118 years! More info can be found at the NOAA-National Climatic Data Center website: NOAA-NCDC. Warm temperatures weren't just confined to Spring. The past 12 months also set a record for warmth in the United States. According to the National Climatic Data Center “the June 2011-May 2012 period was the warmest 12-month period of any 12 months on record for the contiguous United States.” Here’s a graphic:
Many Twin Citians enjoyed the mild Winter that was followed by record Spring warmth. We saved on heating bills and were able to start our gardening, golfing and lawn mowing earlier than normal. It's cool today, but temperatures will rebound nicely over the next few days. Enjoy.
Eastern parts of the Twin Cities metro area saw some rain last night, but it's been a dry June for most Twin Citians. At MSP airport, only two-hundredths of an inch of rain has fallen this month. Most of us are enjoying this drier stretch after the second wettest May in Twin Cities history.
In early May, much of Minnesota was in either severe or moderate drought. Here's the situation now:
Moderate drought is now confined to northwestern Minnesota, and no part of Minnesota is classified as being in severe drought. A more detailed discussion on Minnesota drought conditions can be found at the Minnesota State Climatology Office site: Drought update
We'll have a few rain opportunities tonight and later this weekend. In between, we’ll have some dry hours for lawn mowing and outdoor fun.
(Friday AM update: Some spots in the metro could see a passing shower/t-storm this afternoon.)
If you're looking for a reason to throw a party, here you go. We just set a record for the warmest meteorological Spring (March through May) in Twin Cities history! Our record warm March gave us a running start, and we finished with an average Spring temperature of 54 degrees. That’s the average of all the daily high temperatures and low temperatures for the three month period. More info can be found at the Minnesota State Climatology Office site: Warmest Spring.
What about June? The updated June outlook from the ClimatePredictionCenter of the National Weather Service shows a major change from two weeks ago. The new outlook shows a tendency for above normal temperatures over Minnesota and Wisconsin:
This doesn’t mean that there won’t be some cool days, but there is a good chance that the average monthly temperature will be above normal. The rainfall outlook doesn’t show a trend toward either wet or dry weather over Minnesota and Wisconsin. By the way, our final May rainfall tally at MSP was 9.34 inches, making it the second wettest May in Twin Cities history. Our wettest May occurred in 1906, with 10.33 inches of rain.
