Clouds To Slowly Decrease Sunday

A batch of heavy rain impacted the region through the morning/midday hours on Friday, bringing with it some much-needed rain. Some areas across central and southern Minnesota picked up over an inch of rain, including the following:

My only complaint about the rain? We don't need downpours. What we need to help the drought situation is this inch of rain, but for it to slowly occur throughout the day so it can actually soak into the ground without it just running off into the storm drains and rivers.

The 0.95" of rain that fell Friday at MSP is now the second wettest day of the year so far. After a fairly dry summer so far, August has quickly racked up three of the wettest days of the year: yesterday, last Sunday (0.77" - 6th wettest), and Saturday the 5th (0.57" - tied for the 8th wettest).

_______________________________________________

After a cloudy Saturday across the region, I'm expecting somewhat similar weather as we head through Sunday - though we could see a touch more sun as we head through the afternoon hours. Morning temperatures will be right around 60F with afternoon highs climbing to around 80F.

Looking statewide we'll see a mix of sun and clouds for your Sunday, with more clouds than sunshine to begin the day but those clouds should slowly thin throughout the day. A few showers or storms will be possible at times in northern Minnesota.

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

With Any Luck The Sun Comes Out Today
By Paul Douglas

You don't have to remind me when I'm wrong. My loving, no-nonsense, brutally-honest wife of 38 years will do the job for you. Saturday was a kick in the Doppler. "You said the sun would be out! What time will the SUN come out? We came to the cabin to swim, but it's too cloudy, windy and damp. How does make you feel?" Awful. To be clear, I was right but Mother Nature got it wrong. Take me now, Lord.

Skies often clear rapidly behind cool fronts, but Friday's rain left the lowest mile of the atmosphere saturated, trapping a stubborn "canopy of crud" (low, lumpy stratocumulus clouds). The sun angle in mid-August isn't as high as June or July, when low clouds usually burn off quickly. Apologies.

In theory, the sun is out today with afternoon highs near 80F, and less wind. The sunniest weather this week comes today into Wednesday. Showery rains stalled over Minnesota the latter half of the week may drop .50 - 1" rain.

_______________________________________________

Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SUNDAY: Warm sunshine. Wake up 59. High 81. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NE 5-10 mph.

MONDAY: Partly sunny and sticky. Wake up 63. High 82. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SE 5-10 mph.

TUESDAY: Lukewarm sunshine. Wake up 64. High 82. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 5-10 mph.

THURSDAY: A few showers and T-storms. Wake up 66. High 80. Chance of precipitation 60%. Wind W 3-8 mph.

FRIDAY: Widespread showers, wettest day? Wake up 65. High 75. Chance of precipitation 80%. Wind N 5-10 mph.

SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy, isolated shower. Wake up 66. High 77. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind NE 7-12 mph.

_______________________________________________

Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
August 14th

*When Do We Drop Below 14 Hours Of Daylight?: August 17 (13 hours, 58 minutes, 36 seconds)
*When Does The Sun Start Rising At/After 7 AM?: September 22nd (7:00 AM)
*When Does The Sun Start Setting At/Before 8 PM?: August 26th (8:00 PM)

_______________________________________________

This Day in Weather History
August 14th

1978: The Boundary Waters area is hit by a strong tornado. Some of the damage could still be seen 10 years later.

_______________________________________________

The heaviest rain through Monday will be across southern Texas due to that weak area of low pressure throughout the weekend into early in the week. Up to at least 5" could fall in some of these areas.

_______________________________________________

Italy's Lake Garda shrinks to near-historic low amid drought

More from the Star Tribune: "Italy's worst drought in decades has reduced Lake Garda, the country's largest lake, to near its lowest level ever recorded, exposing swaths of previously underwater rocks and warming the water to temperatures that approach the average in the Caribbean Sea. Tourists flocking to the popular northern lake Friday for the start of Italy's key summer long weekend found a vastly different landscape than in past years. An expansive stretch of bleached rock extended far from the normal shoreline, ringing the southern Sirmione Peninsula with a yellow halo between the green hues of the water and the trees on the shore."

This new innovation boosts wind farm energy output yet costs nothing

One more clue to the Moon's origin

More from ETH Zurich: "Humankind has maintained an enduring fascination with the Moon. It was not until Galileo's time, however, that scientists really began study it. Over the course of nearly five centuries, researchers put forward numerous, much debated theories as to how the Moon was formed. Now, geochemists, cosmochemists, and petrologists at ETH Zurich shed new light on the Moon's origin story. In a study just published in the journal, Science Advances, the research team reports findings that show that the Moon inherited the indigenous noble gases of helium and neon from Earth's mantle. The discovery adds to the already strong constraints on the currently favoured "Giant Impact" theory that hypothesizes the Moon was formed by a massive collision between Earth and another celestial body."

_______________________________________________

Thanks for checking in and have a great day! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (@dkayserwx) and like me on Facebook (Meteorologist D.J. Kayser).

- D.J. Kayser