Humidity Creeps Back In - Dry Through Tuesday

Another quiet day is expected Sunday in the Twin Cities, with lots of sunshine and blue skies. Morning temperatures will start off in the mid-60s with highs topping off in the mid-80s.

The warmest temperatures on Sunday will actually be found across northern Minnesota, where locations like International Falls, Roseau, and Bemidji will be 15F degrees above average as highs climb into the 90s. 80s are expected elsewhere, including along the North Shore.

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No 90s are in sight for a while as highs continue to fluctuate in the 80s through at least the middle of the work week. A system late in the week that could bring in some rain will also help bring in more mild conditions, with highs potentially not making it out of the 70s Friday and next Saturday. Honestly, I'll certainly take this over more 90s!

Dewpoints will slowly be on the rise the next several days, in the 50s Sunday and Monday and then the 60s for the middle of the week. This is in comparison to dewpoints in the 40s Friday and Saturday! What this means is that, especially as we head into the mid-week timeframe, it will definitely feel a touch more humid across the region.

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It's been quite a warm summer so far in the metro, helped by 22 days so far with a high of at least 90F. The average temperature through Friday since the beginning of meteorological summer (June 1st) has been 76.0F, ranking as the third warmest summer to date on record.

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You may have heard the news earlier this week that for the first time in the history of the Drought Monitor (going back to 2000), Exceptional (D4) drought has been introduced into the state. The 7.37% of the state under exceptional drought includes the Red Lake region. Only 1.15% of the state is not at least abnormally dry - that's down in southeastern Minnesota.

As we look statewide, across the Dakotas, and into southern Wisconsin, all of the climate sites are running below average for the year so far. The 15.41" of precipitation that has fallen in the Twin Cities so far in 2021 is the 36th driest to date on record. Most recently, both 2008 (14.19") and 2009 (13.61") had less precipitation so far in the year than this year so far. Meanwhile, Wausau is over 10" above average!

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Humidity Creeps Back In - Dry Through Tuesday
By D.J. Kayser, filling in for Paul Douglas

Quiet weather continues to dominate the weather maps here in the Twin Cities the next few days. It will feel slightly more humid out there as dew points climb back into the 50s and eventually the 60s. Our next rain chance arrives mid-to-late week.

The daily amount of daylight lost continues to accelerate - on Sunday we will lose another two minutes and 46 seconds of daylight, and on Tuesday we drop below 14 total hours of daylight. Amazing how fast this summer has seemed to race on by.

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D.J.'s Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SUNDAY: A passing cloud or two. Wake up 63. High 86. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind S 5-15 mph.

TUESDAY: A touch more humid. Breezy. Wake up 65. High 87. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind S 10-15 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Mainly dry. Late night t-storm. Wake up 70. High 88. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind S 5-10 mph.

THURSDAY: Scattered t-storms. Wake up 70. High 85. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind S 5-10 mph.

FRIDAY: Cooler. More showers and t-storms. Wake up 66. High 79. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind NW 5-10 mph.

SATURDAY: Early AM rain? Decreasing clouds. Wake up 63. High 80. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind W 5-10 mph.

Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
August 15th

*Length Of Day: 14 hours, 3 minutes, and 32 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 2 minutes and 46 seconds

*When Do We Drop Below 14 Hours Of Daylight? August 17th (13 hours, 57 minutes, and 56 seconds)
*When Is The Sunrise At/After 6:30 AM?: August 28th (6:30 AM)
*When Is The Sunset At/Before 8:00 PM?: August 26th (8:00 PM)

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This Day in Weather History
August 15th

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A frontal boundary from the Central Plains to the Southeast will help spark showers and storms on Sunday. Some storms will also be possible in the Desert Southwest and Four Corners region. Eyes will also be on Fred, sitting in the Gulf of Mexico.

The heaviest rain through Monday evening is expected to fall across portions of Florida and the northern Gulf Coast, where Fred will bring the potential of at least 3-7" of rain that could lead to flooding. Heavy storms across portions of Arizona and New Mexico could bring at least 3" of rain to some locations.

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We are still tracking what are now the remnants of Fred, which is expected to reorganize and become a tropical storm again on Sunday. The track has moved farther west, and it is now expected to make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast sometime late Monday or Monday Night.

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Smoke and soot from wildfires may be causing more Covid-19 cases and deaths, study finds

More from CNN: "As the coronavirus surges again in the United States, scientists have found another disaster is playing a key role in the number of people who contract severe Covid-19 cases and how many die: wildfires. A new study published in the journal Science Advances found that increases in fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke in 2020 led to a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths in California, Oregon and Washington. "Fine particulate matter air pollution can be an additional vehicle for spreading the virus even faster," Francesca Dominici, co-author of the study and professor of biostatistics, population and data science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told CNN. "Considering that we are seeing an increased risk of cases from the Delta [variant] and we already have the wildfires, that's going to be concerning.""

Big Oil's New 'Clean' Fuel Is Dirtier Than They Say

More from Earther: "New research finds that blue hydrogen, touted by fossil fuel producers as a climate solution, actually has a 20% larger greenhouse gas footprint than just using natural gas. The study, published Thursday in Energy Science & Engineering, gives some important context on a much-hyped new fuel, one that happens to be the "clean energy" apple of the fossil fuel industry's eye. Hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, has a lot of promise for the energy transition: it can power cars, provide electricity to buildings, and be used to help decarbonize tough industries like manufacturing and construction. The problem with hydrogen is that it needs to be separated from other elements, which in and of itself takes a lot of energy. Hydrogen can be separated from oxygen in water via electrolysis to create what's known as green hydrogen—an option free from any greenhouse gas emissions, but one that's pretty expensive. It can also be harvested from fossil fuels like coal and gas, to create what's known as gray hydrogen. This is a little cheaper than green hydrogen, but emits quite a lot of CO2 during the hydrogen extraction process."

More from Bloomberg Green: "Florencio Gueta Vargas showed up for his usual shift at a hops farm in Toppenish, Washington, on Thursday, July 29. The father of six would never make it home. It was a sweltering day with temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in the fields, where Gueta Vargas and others were tending to the plants used to make beer. His boss found him slumped over a tractor around 3 p.m. An hour later, he was pronounced dead of heart disease that was exacerbated by the heat. Gueta Vargas isn't alone. More extreme weather patterns are emerging due to climate change, and the record-high temperatures sweeping over the western U.S. have led to fatalities for laborers who plant and harvest crops. While it's difficult to track, labor union United Farm Workers has identified three potential heat deaths in recent months."

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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