Scattered T-storms, Twin Cities top 10 ‘heat island?’

Hit or miss

That's the classic summer phrase for the often scattered thunderstorm coverage in Minnesota. Summer rain is very different spatially from more uniform stratiform winter rain and snow. This week's weather fare features a smattering of thundershowers.

Our short-term hit or miss thunder threat hangs around overnight, and generally east of the Interstate-35 corridor Tuesday. We catch a break as a high pressure wedges in later Tuesday and Wednesday, but the next warm front pushes more scattered storms in Wednesday night.

Here's a look at the big picture, as two low pressure waves slide across the Upper Midwest this week.

• -Latest Twin Cities radar loop

• -NOAA Storm Prediction Center

Wet & steamy State Fair start?

Would you like some humidity and rain with that pronto pup?

That may be the case if a warm front spills north toward the Twin Cities Thursday morning as the Minnesota State Fair opens. It's hard to believe it's already State Fair week in Minnesota. The cool wet summer start and calendar's early Labor Day on Sept. 1 have combined to give us what seems like a decidedly less than super summer this year.

Here's a look at the week ahead from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which features a warm front that should push temps into the upper 80s to low 90s by State Fair time rolls around.

If the front pushes far enough north, 90s are a distinct possibility. Dew points cracking 70 may have you wishing you could jump into the state Department of Natural Resources fish pond.

Twin Cities: A "top 10" urban heat island?

We all know cities get warmer and retain heat more efficiently at night that the surrounding landscape.

A new report due out Tuesday from Climate Central puts the Twin Cities in the top 10 for urban heat island effect.

Here's a preview.

Climate Central’s new study finds that most cities are warming even faster than surrounding rural areas, although rural areas are still warming as well. Temperatures in cities were measured up to 23F hotter than surrounding rural areas, a difference which is called the urban heat island effect. The study shows how heat islands worsen air pollution (in the form of ozone levels) in nearly every city analyzed.

With more than 80% of Americans living in cities, increasingly hot urban temperatures pose a serious health threat. The report ranks 60 U.S. cities by the intensity of their heat island, finding that the top ten cities with the most intense summer urban heat islands are: Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Denver, Portland, Louisville, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Columbus, Minneapolis, and Seattle.

Locally, the Twin Cities Islands in the Sun study is working on several aspects of the Twin Cities urban heat island.

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