Drought Slightly Improves In Western, Southern MN - Dry Through The Weekend

A mainly sunny day awaits us on Friday with just some high-level clouds filtering through at times. Morning temperatures start off in the mid-50s before climbing to the low 80s for highs.

Dry weather reigns across the state on Friday with just some high-level clouds throughout the day, especially in northern Minnesota. Highs range from the 60s along portions of the North Shore to the mid-80s in southwestern Minnesota. These highs will be up to 15F degrees above average in some locations.

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Just like Friday, it's going to be a nice weekend here in the Twin Cities with a mix of sun and clouds expected each day. Saturday will be the warmer day this weekend with highs in the low to mid-80s before they cool back off into the low and mid-70s Sunday.

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We did see some slight improvement in portions of western and southern Minnesota in the latest Drought Monitor update released Thursday, but most areas of the state stayed the same week-to-week. 85.6% of the state continues to be under at least Moderate Drought, with 5.8% still under Exceptional Drought (the highest category). The above shows last week's Drought Monitor on the left vs. this week on the right.

Here's a better look at where the drought improved a category over the past week - again, across portions of southern and western Minnesota. We did see an area near Duluth get one category worse - in those areas it went from Moderate to Severe Drought.

While there are some isolated areas of green (indicating above average precipitation) on our departure from the average map for the year across western and southern Minnesota, most areas of the state are still running several inches before average for 2021. In the Twin Cities we are over 3" below average, while some in northern Minnesota are at least 6" below average.

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We're starting to see a few more splotches of color pop up on the Minnesota DNR Fall Color Finder - most of it up in northern Minnesota. Some of the increase in color has been helped by cooler nights up north, but it's also due to the continuing drought situation. You can follow the MN DNR Fall Color Finder throughout the fall color season by clicking here.

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Drought Slightly Improves In Western, Southern MN
By D.J. Kayser, filling in for Paul Douglas

A drier stretch of weather continues into the weekend with our next chance of wet weather in the metro holding off until early next week. The CPC 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks shows the probability of drier than average weather continuing for much of the state. Temperatures warm into the 80s today and Saturday before falling back to the 70s Sunday.

Get your PSLs ready - the Minnesota DNR is already updating their fall color map with several splotches of 10-25% color, particularly in northern Minnesota. Some of this is due to the drier conditions, but also our recent cooler nights.

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D.J.'s Extended Twin Cities Forecast

FRIDAY: A few passing clouds. Wake up 56. High 81. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind S 5-15 mph.

SUNDAY: Clouds across southern MN. Cooler. Wake up 58. High 74. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NNE 3-8 mph.

MONDAY: Sun/cloud mix. A few PM storms. Wake up 56. High 76. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind SE 5-15 mph.

TUESDAY: Breezy. A passing shower or two. Wake up 62. High 75. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind WNW 10-15 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs around average. Wake up 55. High 75. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NW 5-10 mph.

THURSDAY: Slightly warmer. Late night storm? Wake up 56. High 77. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind SE 5-10 mph.

Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
September 10th

*Length Of Day: 12 hours, 46 minutes, and 30 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 3 minutes and 4 seconds

*When Do We Drop Below 12.5 Hours Of Daylight? September 16th (12 hours, 27 minutes, and 59 seconds)
*When Is The Sunrise At/After 7:00 AM?: September 22nd (7:00 AM)
*When Is The Sunset At/Before 7:30 PM?: September 11th (7:30 PM)

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This Day in Weather History
September 10th

1986: 3 inch hail falls in Watonwan County.

1947: Downpours fall across the Iron Range. Hibbing receives 8.6 inches in three hours.

1931: St Cloud experiences a record high of 106 degrees, and it reaches 104 degrees in Minneapolis.

1910: The shortest growing season on record in Duluth ends, with frost free days from June 14 to September 10 (87 days). Normally the frost-free season is 143 days.

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The heaviest rain from Thursday through Saturday evening will be across portions of the Southeast due to Mindy departing the region, and across portions of eastern New England where some 3"+ tallies are possible.

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Summer 2021 neck and neck with Dust Bowl summer for hottest on record

More from NOAA: "Last month brought Hurricane Ida, numerous wildfires and devastating floods, capping off a summer of record heat and rainfall for many states throughout the country. ... The average temperature during meteorological summer for the contiguous U.S. was 74.0 degrees F, 2.6 degrees above average. This technically exceeds the record heat of the 1936 Dust Bowl Summer, but the difference is extremely small (less than 0.01 of a degree F). ... The average summer precipitation total was 9.48 inches — 1.16 inches above average — making it the eighth-wettest summer in the historical record. Mississippi had its wettest summer on record while Alabama, Massachusetts, Michigan and New York had a summer that ranked among their five wettest. Meanwhile, Minnesota had its seventh-driest summer on record."

Biden administration says solar energy has the potential to power 40% of US electricity by 2035

U.S. connected 2.8 GW wind power capacity to the grid in Q2

More from Renewable Energy World: "The U.S. connected 2.8 gigawatts of wind power capacity to the grid in the second quarter of 2021, according to analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.Q2 2021 was one of the strongest second quarters on record for wind power capacity additions, according to the analysis. The U.S. now has 127 GW of cumulative wind power capacity with a pipeline of 62 GW under development through 2025. "Wind power is the dominant source of renewable energy in the U.S., and it is helping to drive the transformation of the nation's power grid away from fossil fuels," S&P analysts Justin Horwath and Krizka Danielle Del Rosario wrote. "The turning point occurred in 2020 when renewable energy became the second-most prevalent source of electricity behind natural gas.""

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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