Pretty Nice September Weather Ahead - Rain Possible Saturday Night

Record rain fell on Tuesday in Duluth, with 2.77" falling. The previous record was 2.51" back in 1876. The heaviest rain fell across northern Minnesota - particularly from the Brainerd area north and eastward, where over an inch of much-needed rainfall occurred. Farther south toward the metro, we didn't see a lot of rain. However, the 0.01" that fell at MSP on Tuesday was the first measurable rainfall since September 14th (0.25") - 21 straight days without measurable precipitation, tied for the 52nd longest stretch on record.

_______________________________________________

There won't be much to complain about on Thursday here in the metro! We'll start the day off with cloud cover, but some clearing should occur into the afternoon. Morning temperatures start off in the mid-50s with highs around 70F. Winds will be out of the north at 5-10 mph.

Statewide, it'll be a nice early September day with highs in the 60s and 70s. Some hazy skies will remain in western and northern Minnesota due to the intrusion of wildfire smoke we saw late Tuesday into Wednesday.

_______________________________________________

Friday: A quiet, sunny day is expected with light winds and temperatures warming back into the mid-70s.

Saturday: We'll see partly sunny skies, with the chance of some showers and storms moving in very late in the day into the overnight hours. Highs climb up to around 80F.

_______________________________________________

We Need New Ways To Manage Water Extremes
By Paul Douglas

In the 1967 movie "The Graduate" Dustin Hoffman got some career advice. "Plastics." Yeah, that worked out well. Advice for young people interested in sustainability and keeping the wheels on the (electric) bus? "Water Management".

Dealing with too much water or too little water is big business in the 21st century. From "flash droughts" to super-floods, clean and reliable fresh water sources will become more valuable than oil.

The Twin Cities went 3 weeks with under .01" rain, the 52st longest stretch of consecutive dry days since 1872. Parts of northern and central Minnesota saw significant rain late Tuesday, but once again the MSP metro found a way to miss big puddles.

We are watching "Lee", which may strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane and wobble close to the east coast late next week.

_______________________________________________

Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

THURSDAY: Partly sunny, pleasant. Wake up 56. High 71. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NE 7-12 mph.

FRIDAY: Plenty of sunshine, touch of smoke. Wake up 53. High 79. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SE 7-12 mph.

SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy, probably dry. Wake up 58. High 76. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NE 10-15 mph.

MONDAY: Patchy clouds, stray shower. Wake up 56. High 72. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind NE 10-20 mph.

TUESDAY: Mix of clouds and sun, comfortable. Wake up 53. High 70. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NE 7-12 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Lukewarm sun, low humidity. Wake up 52. High 71. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SE 5-10 mph.

_______________________________________________

*Length Of Day: 12 hours, 57 minutes, and 11 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 3 minutes and 3 seconds

*When Do We Drop Below 12 Hours Of Sunlight? September 26th (11 hours, 58 minutes, 25 seconds)
*When Are Sunrises At/After 7:00 AM? September 23rd (7:01 AM)
*When Are Sunsets At/Before 7:00 PM? September 28th (6:59 PM)
_______________________________________________

This Day in Weather History
September 7th

1990: Strong winds and hail up to 2 inches was reported in Swift, Douglas, Stevens, Kandiyohi, Meeker, Stearns, and Waseca Counties.

1986: A touch of winter is felt in northern MN, with lows of 20 degrees at Embarrass and 30 at Duluth.

_______________________________________________

On Thursday, a cold front moving east will bring the threat of storms from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast. Some scattered storms will also be possible back toward the Plains and the northern Rockies.

Some of the heaviest rain through the end of the week will fall in the Great Lakes, where at least 1-2" of rain could fall.

_______________________________________________

Your weather app may be missing critical details. A group of emergency managers is trying to fix that.

It's official. UN says the world just endured its hottest summer on record

More from CNBC: "The world just experienced its hottest three months on record by a substantial margin, according to the UN weather agency, prompting the UN chief to call for world leaders to take urgent climate action. The UN's World Meteorological Organization and European climate service Copernicus on Wednesday announced that the June to August season of 2023 was the warmest such period in records that began in 1940. The average temperature for those three months was 16.77 degrees Celsius (62.19 degrees Fahrenheit), which was 0.66 degrees Celsius above average for the period. The month of August was found to be the hottest on record by a large margin and the second hottest month after July 2023."

WHERE DANGEROUS HEAT IS SURGING

More from the Washington Post: "The world is experiencing a surge in extremely hot days that put human health at risk, with the threat concentrated in some of the places least prepared to cope, according to an analysis of climate data by The Washington Post and CarbonPlan, a nonprofit that develops publicly available climate data and analytics. By 2050, over 5 billion people — probably more than half the planet's population — will be exposed to at least a month of health-threatening extreme heat when outdoors in the sun, the analysis shows, up from 4 billion in 2030 and 2 billion at the turn of the century. The analysis calculated an approximate form of "wet-bulb globe temperature," a metric that combines temperature, humidity, sunlight and wind. Scientists consider it the gold standard for evaluating how heat harms the human body."

_______________________________________________

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

- D.J. Kayser