Sunny Skies Continue Sunday - Wildfire Smoke Aloft Moves Back In Across Northern Minnesota

Forecast smoke aloft for 5 AM Sunday

As we head into Saturday Night and Sunday, another batch of Canadian wildfire smoke will work its way toward the state. The good news is that this smoke is mainly expected to stay aloft, leading to hazy skies on Sunday (especially in northern Minnesota).

Forecast smoke near the surface for 5 AM Sunday

Here's a look at the same timeframe for smoke near the surface. As you can see - very little, if any, is expected to make it to the surface, meaning that we won't have to deal with air quality concerns.

Mainly sunny skies are expected across the state as we head through Sunday - but again, hazy conditions are expected wherever that smoke aloft moves into (especially in northern Minnesota). An isolated shower can't be ruled out in parts of the Arrowhead, however, any rain should be light. Highs range from near 80F across southern Minnesota to the 50s and 60s in the Arrowhead and along the North Shore due to a strong lake breeze.

That easterly breeze off of Lake Superior could produce wind gusts of 20-25 mph along the North Shore.

Sunday will be several degrees warmer than it was on Saturday in the metro, with morning temperatures in the mid-50s and highs in the mid to upper 70s. Mainly sunny skies will reign.

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As we head through the upcoming work week - and toward the Memorial Day weekend - we will be tracking warm weather. Highs will climb into the low 80s for the beginning of the week before a slight cool down into the mid-70s Wednesday and Thursday with a cold front moving in. That will also bring a slight rain chance to the metro on Wednesday - but better rain chances exist late Tuesday into early Wednesday up north. Temperatures will climb back to the low 80s for the Memorial Day weekend. However, as we head into that extended weekend, we're still watching the potential for at least a daily storm potential.

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Sinking Back Into A Smokier Pattern
By Paul Douglas

One take-away from living in Minnesota for the last 40 years: when the weather is perfect, stop what you're doing, put down your screens and take full advantage of the moment.

In the span of 2 weeks I went from having my computer browser tabs highlight lake ice-out and slush accumulation to NOAA tabs tracking wildfire smoke. Weather Whiplash. I can't remember seeing so much smoke so early in the season. This is more typical of August or September.

Yesterday was magical, but models pull smoke from Alberta fires back into Minnesota today as temperatures surge into the mid-70s. We may hit 80F Tuesday, depending on how much sunlight is filtered out by smoke plumes overhead, before a "back-door cool front" (approaching from the northeast) sparks a few Wednesday showers and cooler temperatures.

Next weekend may bring low 80s, sticky humidity levels and a few T-storms, with potentially less smoke.

One silver lining of a dry, smoky-flavored Canadian flow? No severe thunderstorms. No complaints here.

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SUNDAY: Smoky sunshine. Wake up 55. High 76. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind SW 7-12 mph.

MONDAY: Partly sunny, risk of smoke. Wake up 56. High 78. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 7-12 mph.

TUESDAY: Murky sun with patchy smoke. Wake up 58. High 81. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 10-20 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Unsettled with a few showers. Wake up 56. High 68. Chance of precipitation 60%. Wind E 10-20 mph.

THURSDAY: Patchy clouds, cool breeze. Wake up 51. High 63. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind SE 10-20 mph.

FRIDAY: More sunshine, milder. Wake up 52. High 74. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 8-13 mph.

SATURDAY: Hazy sunshine, sticky. Wake up 55. High 80. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind S 10-20 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
May 21st

*Length Of Day: 15 hours, 3 minutes, and 47 seconds
*Daylight GAINED Since Yesterday: 2 minutes and 1 second

*Most Sunlight In A Day: June 21st (15 hours, 36 minutes, 51 seconds)
*Earliest Sunrises Of The Year: June 13th-17th (5:25 AM)
*Earliest Sunsets Of The Year: June 21st-July 2nd (9:03 PM)
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This Day in Weather History
May 21st

1960: A downpour at New Prague dumps 10 inches of rain in a 48 hour period.

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On Sunday, some showers will remain across New England due to a nearby area of low pressure. A frontal boundary still in the Southeast into the Southern Plains will produce storm chances. Meanwhile, showers and storms will be possible in parts of the western United States due to a cold front - with the best chance of rain in the afternoon.

The heaviest rain from Saturday through Monday will be in New England, where some areas could see at least 3" of rain.

Meanwhile, dry and sunny conditions are expected for the last round of the PGA Championship in Pittsford, NY, on Sunday.

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Why the U.S. is so bad at building clean energy, in 3 charts

More from the Washington Post: "The United States has big plans to move away from fossil fuels. By 2050, the Biden administration has promised, the country will have a carbon footprint of zero — thanks to thousands of wind and solar farms, new nuclear and geothermal power plants, electric vehicles and all-electric homes and buildings. There's just one problem: The United States really isn't very good at building clean energy. This paradox has become a central question in the anxiety-inducing race to raise the debt ceiling this month. Congressional leaders, haggling over how best to avoid default, have suggested that including legislation to speed up the development of energy projects and power lines — known as "permitting reform" — could help cement a final deal. (They have very different ideas of what that legislation should include: Democrats want to focus on building interstate power lines, while Republicans want to speed up the process of building power plants, including fossil-fuel ones.)"

Past climate change to blame for Antarctica's giant underwater landslides

More from the University of Plymouth: "Scientists have discovered the cause of giant underwater landslides in Antarctica which they believe could have generated tsunami waves that stretched across the Southern Ocean. An international team of researchers, led by Dr Jenny Gales from the University of Plymouth, uncovered layers of weak, fossilised and biologically-rich sediments hundreds of metres beneath the seafloor. These formed beneath extensive areas of underwater landslides, many of which cut more than 100 metres into the seabed. Writing in Nature Communications, the scientists say these weak layers – made up of historic biological material – made the area susceptible to failure in the face of earthquakes and other seismic activity. They also highlight that the layers formed at a time when temperatures in Antarctica were up to 3°C warmer than they are today, when sea levels were higher and ice sheets much smaller than at present."

Replace fossil fuels — with more fossil fuels? That's one major utility's plan.

More from Grist: "Austin Wall was attending an environmental law conference at the University of Tennessee not long ago when, during a discussion of natural gas pipeline projects, a map appeared on the screen and gave him a surprise. "I'm like, hold up, that Google Maps looks really familiar to me," the 25-year-old law student said. "I could find my family's farm on that map." Wall's family lives in rural Dickson County, and its ranch lies within a 10-mile "blast zone" of a pipeline planned for north-central Tennessee. That got his attention. A pipeline exploded in that area in 1992, scorching more than five acres of forest, and a similar disaster could decimate the family's livelihood raising cattle. But what really dismayed him is why the Tennessee Valley Authority wants to build the project: It plans to replace two coal-fired power plants with natural gas facilities."

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- D.J. Kayser