Minnesota WeatherTalk

Cooler Pattern Dominates August: More than half of the days in August have produced cooler than normal temperatures. As such, most climate stations report a monthly mean temperature that is 1 to 2 degrees F cooler than normal, with the largest departures in western counties. Extremes ranged from 94°F at St James (Watonwan County) on the 4th to 35°F at Hibbing (St Louis County) on the 30th. Despite the cooler than normal temperature readings for the state Minnesota did not report the nation’s lowest temperature even once during the month, somewhat unusual for our history. Rainfall was mixed around the state during August. Over 50 climate stations reported total rainfall of 6 inches or greater, while at least a dozen stations reported less than 2 inches for the month, including portions of southeastern Minnesota which up until August were reporting one of the wettest years in history. In the Twin Cities Metro Area ;portions of Edina and Richfield reported over 8 inches for the mon...

Significant Weather and Climate Events of 2019 So Far: February 2019 was the coldest month of the year and coldest month in Minnesota since February of 2015. It was also the snowiest February in state history with over 150 climate stations reporting over 30 inches of snowfall, and over 30 climate stations reporting over 40 inches of snowfall. At least 10 Minnesota climate stations reported over 100 inches of snowfall for the 2018-2019 snow season. MSP reported over 77 inches for only the 11th time in history. Duluth reported a record amount of snowfall for May 8th with 8.3 inches and a new record total for the month of May with 13.3 inches. Four-inch diameter hail stones were reported from Clear Lake July 26th and from Delano on August 5th……grapefruit size hail is very unusual in state history. Sartell in Stearns County reports the largest one-day rainfall so far this year with 6.42 inches falling on July 5th. Southern Minnesota counties are reporting one of their wettest years of r...

Follow up on the disparity of climate signals: Earlier this week there was a long article in the Washington Post by Chris Mooney and others about the extreme measures of climate change that are already occurring across the USA. Northern Minnesota is one area where the change in temperature has been most extreme, and highlighted in this article. I wanted to point out however that there is some disparity in the net change of temperature across the state that has occurred over the past 100 years or so. Listed below (from NOAA-climate data) is the net change in mean annual temperature and mean winter temperature (Dec-Feb) over the past 100 years in Minnesota’s northern most counties compared to one of the southernmost counties (Fillmore). Numbers are rounded to nearest whole digit: County                          Net Change in Mean Annual Temp   ...

Warmer Than Normal Start to August: The first 7 days of August have brought warmer than normal temperatures to most parts of the state, with mean daily temperatures averaging 3-5 degrees F above normal. For many, August 8th brought the first cooler than normal day of the month, with low relative humidity and dew points. August 9th continued that pattern as well. So far the highest temperature in the state this month has been 94°F at St James (Watonwan County) on the 4th, and many places up north have seen lows in the 40s F. Widely scattered thunderstorms have produced a large range in rainfall so far this month, with some areas receiving 1-2 inches, and many reporting less than half an inch. Earlier this week on August 6th many observers in southeastern Minnesota reported over 1 inch of rainfall, while Spring Valley, Hokah, Grand Meadow, and Waseca reported over 2 inches. Rochester and Owatonna both report over 36 inches of precipitation so far in 2019, already ranking among t...

WeatherTalk will not be published Friday, August 2. The next WeatherTalk will be available on Friday, August 9.