Minnesota WeatherTalk

The Wettest Night at the State Fair Remembered: Forty-five years ago, August 30, 1977, is long remembered by Minnesota State Fair goers as a traumatic and very wet evening. The weather became cloudy hour by hour and the dew point rose gradually until it was an uncomfortable 70°F by early evening. Temperatures were in the 70s F with moderate south winds and a chance for thunderstorms in the forecast. As the Grandstand show got underway it began to rain, at first lightly, then heavier. (I think Mac Davis was the featured entertainment). Between 8 and 9 pm the rainfall intensified, and many began to leave the Grandstand as well as the Fairgrounds. Between the hours of 9 and 10 pm nearly 3 inches of rain fell, flooding the streets and sidewalks. Visibility during the heaviest rainfall was just a few feet, making it difficult to find your way to the Fairground exits. There was widespread flooding all around the Twin Cities, especially from the Fairgrounds south toward Bloomington an

Spotty But Heavy Rainfalls Continue: This week brought more heavy rainfalls to some areas of the state, especially in the north. Many areas of the state saw 1 to 2 inches of rainfall on August 16, 17, and 18. Some long-term climate stations even reported daily record rainfalls, including: Big Falls (Koochiching County) with 2.40 inches on the 16th Winnibigoshish Dam (Itasca County) with 3.11 inches on the 17th And on the 18th new record rainfalls were reported from Mora (Kanabec County) with 2.14 inches, Wright (Carlton County) with 2.70 inches, and Cambridge (Isanti County) with 4.32 inches. With the heavier rains in northern Minnesota this month, some Minnesota communities like International Falls, Chisholm, Thorhult, Tower, and Grand Portage remain on a pace to record one of their wettest years in history. Overall total rainfalls of 3 inches or greater have fallen this month over about 20 to 30 percent of the state helping to hold the drought areas in check. About 12 percent of

Hello readers: WeatherTalk will not be published on Aug. 12. The next WeatherTalk will be available on Friday, Aug. 19.

Up and Down Temperatures Start August: Temperatures the first few days of August were highly variable, especially from south to north. Both Redwood Falls (100°F) and Marshall (101°F) reached the century mark on the thermometer on August 2nd, while later that day when so many citizens were out gathering for “National Night Out” an influx of dew points above 70°F raised the Heat Index Values from 102°F to 115°F. Over 50 Minnesota communities reported such high Heat Index Values. The Minnesota DNR State Climatology Office provides a good summary of the temperatures and Heat Index Values for August 2nd. Then two days later, Kabetogama, Brimson, Tower, and Embarrass were just 44°F on the morning of August 4th. Overall temperatures have been average warmer than normal for the first five days of the month. In terms of rainfall, most places in the state have reported little so far this month. But both August 1 and August 3 brought widely scattered, but strong thunderstorms to some parts