Somewhat Soggy Sunday
The weather looks somewhat soggy on Sunday and into Monday with scattered showers and a few thunderstorms working through the region. The good news is that most of the storms will be of garden variety, but there could be a few pockets of locally heavy.
Precipitation Potential Through Tuesday
Here's the precipitation potential through Tuesday, which shows areas of heavy rainfall south and east of the Twin Cities, where some +1" tallies can't be ruled out.
Sunday Weather Outlook
Here's the weather outlook for Sunday, which shows mild temps continuing for early May, however, there will be scattered showers and storms across the region, with the heaviest rains possible south and east of the Twin Cities metro.
Sunday Weather Outlook For Minneapolis
Here's a closer look at our Sunday weather for Minneapolis. Note that weather conditions will be a little more unsettled during the 2nd half of the day with scattered showers and storms possible.
Sunday Meteograms
The meteorgrams for Minneapolis on Sunday show temps warming quickly from the 60s in the morning to the lower 70s into the afternoon. There will be a chance of showers and storms throughout the day with the most widespread storms possible during the 2nd half of the day. Winds will be out of the NE and could gust up close to 15mph in the afternoon.
Extended Temperature Outlook
Here's the extended temperature and weather outlook over the next 5 to 7 days in the Twin Cities. Highs on Sunday will still be warmer than average, but much of next week will be below average with highs hovering around 60F. It might even be a bit cooler by the end of the week and weekend with highs only warming into the upper 50s.
2021 Ice Out Dates So Far
According to the MN DNR, most MN Lakes are going ice out nearly 2 weeks earlier than normal this season. Thanks to warmer than normal temps and wetter than normal conditions, quite a few lakes have been going ice out. Leech Lake went ice out on April 9, while the average ice out is on April 28th. Lake Winnibigoshish went ice out on April 8th, while the average ice out is on April 26th. Lake Ver Milion went ice out on April 15th, while the average ice out is on April 20th. Mille Lacs Lake was deemed ice out as of April 7th, while the average ice out date is on April 25th. Upper & Lower Red Lake were ice out as of early April, while the average ice out is late April.
See more from the MN DNR HERE:
Average Ice Out Dates Across the State
Here's a look at the average ice out dates across the state. The orange markers across the southern part of the state indicate average ice out dates typically around the last week of March. We typically see average ice out across parts of central Minnesota and around the Twin Cities during the first couple of weeks of April. Folks across the northern third of the state typically see ice out closer to the start of May.
See more from the MN DNR HERE:
Spring Leaf Index
If you look close, so of your backyard trees and bushes have actually started to show signs of spring leaves emerging. According to the NPN, this is happening nearly 2 to 3 weeks earlier than normal across Minnesota and Wisconsin.
"How do you know when spring has begun? Is it the appearance of the first tiny leaves on the trees, or the first crocus plants peeping through the snow? The First Leaf and First Bloom Indices are synthetic measures of these early season events in plants, based on recent temperature conditions. These models allow us to track the progression of spring onset across the country. April 27, 2021 - Spring leaf out has arrived in all but the most northern and highest elevation parts of the country. After arriving early in southern parts of Southwest and Southeast states, cold temperatures halted the progress of spring leaf out for several days across the northern part of the Southeast, Southern Great Plains, and mid-Atlantic. Spring leaf out arrived days to weeks early across much of the northern Great Plains, Midwest, and Northeast. Spring bloom has arrived in the southern half of the country. Spring bloom is patchy, with much of Texas days to weeks late, while parts of Kansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana are days to weeks early."
Extended Temperature Outlook
Here's the ECMWF & GFS extended temperature outlook for Minneapolis over the next couple of weeks. Temps will still be quite warm on Sunday, but note that we might spend several days in the 50s and lower 60s, which will be below average for the early part of May. Temps looks to rebound a bit once we get closer to mid month. Stay tuned.
8 to 14 Day Temperature Outlook
According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14 day temperature outlook shows cooler than average temps across the northern tier of the nation, while warmer than average temps will be found across the southern tier of the nation.
Sunday Thundershowers. Cool First Full Week of May
By Todd Nelson
Sigh... Hold on, I am still enjoying yesterday's weather.
Saturday's mild sunshine was a spectacle. A reminder of how beautiful the Land of 10,000 Lakes can be when it's not frozen. Don't get me wrong, I love winter, but a blue sky in Minnesota on a warm summery day is chicken soup for the soul.
The average April temperature at the MSP Airport finished pretty close to normal despite a very warm start to the month. We also only had 0.5 inch of snow, which was nearly 2 inches below normal and a far cry from the snowiest April on record of 26 inches back in 2018. No thanks!
Say so long to the 80s for now. Temps cool a bit today with scattered showers and storms possible through the second half of the day. Keep in mind that our average high at this time of the year is in the mid/upper 60s, so temperature readings through the week ahead will be a bit cool for early May.
According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, temps will be below average through next week. Fear not, A/Cs will be humming as loud as skeeter wings soon enough!
Extended Forecast
SUNDAY: Cloudier. PM T-Showers. Winds: ENE 7-12. High: 72.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Slight chance of a T-Shower overnight. Winds: NE 10. Low: 46.
MONDAY: AM showers. Peek of PM sunshine. Winds: NW 10-15. High: 60.
TUESDAY: Brighter skies. Isolated PM sprinkle? Winds: NNW 7-12. Wake-up: 42. High: 60.
WEDNESDAY: Mix of clouds & sun. Few PM showers. Winds: N 5-10. Wake-up: 40. High: 60.
THURSDAY: Cooler. Spotty afternoon rumble. Winds: NNW 5-10. Wake-up: 41. High: 58.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny and nicer. Winds: N 5-10. Wake-up: 41. High: 61.
SATURDAY: Increasing clouds. Rain overnight. Winds: SE 10-15. Wake-up: 43. High: 58.
This Day in Weather History
May 2nd
2013: A historic snowstorm dumps up to 18 inches of snow in southeast Minnesota and west central Wisconsin. Blooming Prairie receives 18 inches from this storm, and Eau Claire gets 9.3 inches.
Average High/Low for Minneapolis
May 2nd
Average High: 65F (Record: 91F set in 1959)
Average Low: 44F (Record: 24F set in 1924)
Record Rainfall: 1.49" set in 1944
Record Snowfall: 2.2" set in 1954
Sunrise/Sunset Times for Minneapolis
May 2nd
Sunrise: 6:00am
Sunset: 8:20pm
Hours of Daylight: ~14 hours & 20 minutes
Daylight GAINED since yesterday: ~ 2 minutes & 41 seconds
Daylight GAINED since Winter Solstice (December 21st): ~ 5 hours & 56 minutes
Moon Phase for May 2nd at Midnight
0.5 Days Before Last Quarter Moon
What's in the Night Sky?
"As the Eta Aquariid meteor shower picks up steam these next several mornings – May 3, 4 and 5, 2021 – watch for the waning moon to sweep past the ringed planet Saturn and then the giant planet Jupiter. On May 3, the moon passes due south of Saturn, to stage a conjunction, only a few hours before the moon reaches its half-illuminated last quarter phase. A little over one day after the moon-Saturn conjunction, the moon will sweep due south of the king planet Jupiter. Meanwhile, as for Neptune, although we show you its location on our chart above, it is not visible to the eye. Read more: All you need to know: Eta Aquariid meteors Here's some astronomy jargon for you. Technically speaking, the moon is said to be at dichotomy when it appears half-illuminated to us, yet at quadrature when the moon is 90 degrees from the sun on the sky's dome. The two events (dichotomy and quadrature) almost happen concurrently, at least as far as the moon is concerned, at the first or last quarter phase. A half-illuminated last quarter moon is synonymous with west quadrature, that is, with the moon being 90 degrees west of the sun. In common usage, many think of dichotomy and quadrature as synonymous. Yet did you know that a quarter moon is always a tiny bit more than 50% illuminated? It is around 50.13% illuminated at the last quarter phase, such a small amount more than 50% that the difference isn't visually discernible."
National High Temps Sunday
The weather outlook on Sunday shows warmer than average temperatures continuing along and east of the Rockies with temps running nearly +5F to +15F above average. Meanwhile, folks west of the Rockies will be a bit cool for early May with highs running below average.
National Weather Outlook
The weather outlook through 7PM Monday scattered showers and storms moving into the Central US as we head through late weekend / early next week. Some of the storms could be strong to severe with locally heavy rainfall.
Extended Precipitation Outlook
The extended precipitation outlook over the next 7 days shows widespread heavy rainfall across the Southern US, where localized flooding can't be ruled out. Meanwhile, much of the Southwest will remain dry.
Extended Snowfall Outlook
Here's the extended snowfall outlook into next week, areas of snowfall continuing across the spine of the Rockies.
Climate Stories
"The Wind and Solar Boom Is Here"
Just one word, Benjamin: Solar. Well, actually, one more: Wind. The sun, the air and the chemistry to bottle their limitless power — it's looking more and more as if these constitute the world's next great technological advance, a leap as life-changing for many of us as was aviation, the internet or, of course, plastics. Faster than many thought possible, and despite long doubt about renewable energy's practicality, a momentous transformation is now well underway. We are moving from a global economy fueled primarily by climate-warming fossil fuels to one in which we will cleanly pluck most of our energy out of water, wind and the fire in the sky. People who study energy markets say that economics alone ensures our eventual transition to clean fuels, but that policy choices by the governments can speed it up. Last October, the International Energy Agency declared solar power to be the cheapest new form of electricity in many places around the world, and in particularly favorable locations, solar is now "the cheapest source of electricity in history."
"NASA EXPERIMENT REVEALS A POWERFUL NATURAL FORCE CLEANS THE ATMOSPHERE"
"OVER TWO SUMMER DAYS IN JUNE 2012, a NASA aircraft called DC-8 daringly flew at a speed of 200 meters per second through deep clouds and threw itself into the eye of a tumultuous thunderstorm. DC-8 undertook this harrowing journey for one primary purpose: to understand lightning's ability to clean Earth's atmosphere. The specific kinds of measurements performed here "are the first-ever in thunderstorms," William H. Brune tells Inverse. Brune is one of the authors of a new study detailing DC-8's findings and a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University. What the craft found on this intrepid journey could change the course of atmospheric science as we know it. But more immediately, these measurements hold some pretty strange implications for how we can best face the climate crisis."
"What it takes to chase the world's most violent storms"
"Few hobbies are more extreme than storm chasing. It's a seemingly crazy endeavor that pays off with a chance to bask in the raw power of the most powerful and violent storms on Earth. Successful storm chasing demands hardcore data analysis and the wisdom to know what risks to take. Doing it well can yield a chance to experience something magnificent, whether a tornado flanked by a rainbow, or a towering supercell storm that resembles a flying saucer. Slipping up can mean missing the storm or, more seriously, putting yourself in danger. A tornado and a rainbow appeared simultaneously near one Texas town on Friday At its root, storm chasing is as much an art as it is a science, requiring a skill set that gets honed only after years of experience. It blends forecasting and interpretation of the sky with the need for expert navigation. It's a test of endurance and temptation. You want to get close — but not too close. Behind every successful (or unsuccessful) storm chase comes days of planning built on years of past instances of trial and error. For many, seeing a tornado is the ultimate prize, but sculpted clouds, vivid lightning and curtains of rain can also provide quite a show. Here's a timeline of what a "typical" chase looks like and entails — though in the world of storm chasing, there's no such thing as typical."
See more from the Washington Post HERE:
