'Best summer weather pattern possible' forecast for Minnesota State Fair
People ride the Defender on the Mighty Midway at sunset during the Minnesota State Fair Aug. 23, 2024.
Nicole Neri for MPR News
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: It is hard to believe, I think, that tomorrow is already the first day of the Minnesota State Fair. We will be out there. Minnesota Now will be live from the fair for our show tomorrow at noon. Hope you'll join us. So here with the latest on the weather forecast for the kickoff of the fair's MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner. Hey, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: Hey, Nina. Yeah, I'm always a little freaked out when the first day of the fair is tomorrow. It tells me that summer is in its waning weeks here. A little crazy.
NINA MOINI: I know. August really flew. It really flew by. But all right, lay it on us. What's going on opening weekend here? Everybody wants to know.
PAUL HUTTNER: I got to tell you, this might be the best late summer weather pattern we've ever seen for the state fair.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: This looks almost perfect as we head into this opening weekend.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: We start today with this beautiful day. We'll be in the low 80s, a few lazy, fair weather cumulus clouds out there. We'll do this again tomorrow, so opening day looks absolutely stunning. Mostly sunny, a high of 82 degrees. Light winds out at the fair, so a really, really pretty Thursday. There's a weak front that comes through Thursday night into Friday, maybe a 10% chance of a rain shower overnight and maybe again Friday afternoon. But I really don't think it's going to amount to much.
80 for the high on Friday. And then a little cool front comes through, and it's going to feel like early September this weekend. If you like it cooler and breezy, Saturday, Sunday could be your day. Sunny, breezy on Saturday with a high of 70 and a northwest wind gusting to about 20, 25. Sunday, mostly sunny and a high of 67, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: It's going to feel nice and cool out there. So for people who like to get out and don't like it hot, this first weekend looks absolutely fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised if we had some record attendance out there in the next few days.
NINA MOINI: Oh, yeah. And please, again, join us tomorrow at noon on the corner of Judson and Nelson for a live of Minnesota Now. It's going to be fun. We're going to have dogs, dog tricks, all of it, Paul. So the weather will be nice. And the reason I'm saying wow so much when you're telling me is because we've kind of had a rough go of it this summer when it comes to the humidity and all of this smoke from Canadian wildfires. How much rain have we been getting? What's the smoke outlook for the next few weeks?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, and I'm thrilled with that too, because the timing is perfect for the fair. And just quickly, we're also going to be out there live, the weather team, next Wednesday, August 27.
NINA MOINI: Aw, that's cooler.
PAUL HUTTNER: We'll chat with you too, so it'll be great.
NINA MOINI: Everybody's going to wait for that now.
[LAUGHTER]
PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, no. No, no. It's all good.
NINA MOINI: No, I'm just kidding.
PAUL HUTTNER: We get to get out and talk to everybody. It's so cool.
NINA MOINI: Yeah.
PAUL HUTTNER: But the great news about the air quality is it looks excellent because we've had a big change in the wildfire scenario in central Canada. They've had several inches of rain in the past one to two weeks. There is much less fire and smoke now in north central Canada. And so these northwest winds that we're going to get-- whereas a month ago, we would have got a big shot of smoke-- it looks clean.
The air looks clean coming in, so we could have some great air quality. We've got what I would call excellent air quality out there today. And it looks like that will last right through the upcoming weekend and probably most of next week. So the only smoke we might be breathing out at the fair this year is from the pork chop stand, Nina, right across from the MPR booth.
[LAUGHTER]
NINA MOINI: Definitely. But others, not as fortunate right now, right, Paul? Hurricane Erin passing by the East Coast this week. What's the latest on that? Is that a hurricane?
PAUL HUTTNER: It is. It's a major hurricane with 110 mile an hour winds. I was just looking at the latest statements there in the satellite, and it's about 365 miles south, southeast of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, that little Outer Banks that sticks out in the ocean. I've been there. It's absolutely gorgeous.
They're expecting a storm surge of two to four feet in that area and then waves 20 plus feet on top of that, so a lot of coastal erosion. Thankfully, the center of the storm is turning north and is going to miss the eastern United States. But they'll have tremendous surf, as Emily was talking about, and even some rain. So a near miss. We can be thankful. That looks like a fish storm. It'll stay out in the ocean and not hit the US directly.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. And this is kind of fun. We're hearing a lot of crickets out this time of year. Can you tell us about the temperatures?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. I love this, because crickets are like little thermometers everywhere, and it's great to hear them at night. They actually react to the temperature. Those little chirps you hear? That's them rubbing their wings together. They got little combs that rub against each other. And if you count those chirps in 15 seconds and add 40, it gives you the temperature. So if you get 30 chirps--
NINA MOINI: Whoa!
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. 30 chirps in 15 seconds plus 40, it's about 70 degrees. It's pretty accurate within a degree or two. So hey, those little critters can tell us something about the weather, too.
NINA MOINI: I had no idea. What a fun fact. Thank you. More fun facts for us on this week's Climate Cast. Can you tell us what's coming up?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, it's all about the bugs this week, right? Fireflies. It's been a good year for those, too, in Minnesota, in the northeast. And we'll talk to an expert about how climate change is impacting fireflies. That's on Climate Cast tomorrow afternoon during All Things Considered.
NINA MOINI: Love it. I've been seeing those everywhere. Thanks so much, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner.
PAUL HUTTNER: Hey, Nina. Yeah, I'm always a little freaked out when the first day of the fair is tomorrow. It tells me that summer is in its waning weeks here. A little crazy.
NINA MOINI: I know. August really flew. It really flew by. But all right, lay it on us. What's going on opening weekend here? Everybody wants to know.
PAUL HUTTNER: I got to tell you, this might be the best late summer weather pattern we've ever seen for the state fair.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: This looks almost perfect as we head into this opening weekend.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: We start today with this beautiful day. We'll be in the low 80s, a few lazy, fair weather cumulus clouds out there. We'll do this again tomorrow, so opening day looks absolutely stunning. Mostly sunny, a high of 82 degrees. Light winds out at the fair, so a really, really pretty Thursday. There's a weak front that comes through Thursday night into Friday, maybe a 10% chance of a rain shower overnight and maybe again Friday afternoon. But I really don't think it's going to amount to much.
80 for the high on Friday. And then a little cool front comes through, and it's going to feel like early September this weekend. If you like it cooler and breezy, Saturday, Sunday could be your day. Sunny, breezy on Saturday with a high of 70 and a northwest wind gusting to about 20, 25. Sunday, mostly sunny and a high of 67, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: It's going to feel nice and cool out there. So for people who like to get out and don't like it hot, this first weekend looks absolutely fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised if we had some record attendance out there in the next few days.
NINA MOINI: Oh, yeah. And please, again, join us tomorrow at noon on the corner of Judson and Nelson for a live of Minnesota Now. It's going to be fun. We're going to have dogs, dog tricks, all of it, Paul. So the weather will be nice. And the reason I'm saying wow so much when you're telling me is because we've kind of had a rough go of it this summer when it comes to the humidity and all of this smoke from Canadian wildfires. How much rain have we been getting? What's the smoke outlook for the next few weeks?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, and I'm thrilled with that too, because the timing is perfect for the fair. And just quickly, we're also going to be out there live, the weather team, next Wednesday, August 27.
NINA MOINI: Aw, that's cooler.
PAUL HUTTNER: We'll chat with you too, so it'll be great.
NINA MOINI: Everybody's going to wait for that now.
[LAUGHTER]
PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, no. No, no. It's all good.
NINA MOINI: No, I'm just kidding.
PAUL HUTTNER: We get to get out and talk to everybody. It's so cool.
NINA MOINI: Yeah.
PAUL HUTTNER: But the great news about the air quality is it looks excellent because we've had a big change in the wildfire scenario in central Canada. They've had several inches of rain in the past one to two weeks. There is much less fire and smoke now in north central Canada. And so these northwest winds that we're going to get-- whereas a month ago, we would have got a big shot of smoke-- it looks clean.
The air looks clean coming in, so we could have some great air quality. We've got what I would call excellent air quality out there today. And it looks like that will last right through the upcoming weekend and probably most of next week. So the only smoke we might be breathing out at the fair this year is from the pork chop stand, Nina, right across from the MPR booth.
[LAUGHTER]
NINA MOINI: Definitely. But others, not as fortunate right now, right, Paul? Hurricane Erin passing by the East Coast this week. What's the latest on that? Is that a hurricane?
PAUL HUTTNER: It is. It's a major hurricane with 110 mile an hour winds. I was just looking at the latest statements there in the satellite, and it's about 365 miles south, southeast of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, that little Outer Banks that sticks out in the ocean. I've been there. It's absolutely gorgeous.
They're expecting a storm surge of two to four feet in that area and then waves 20 plus feet on top of that, so a lot of coastal erosion. Thankfully, the center of the storm is turning north and is going to miss the eastern United States. But they'll have tremendous surf, as Emily was talking about, and even some rain. So a near miss. We can be thankful. That looks like a fish storm. It'll stay out in the ocean and not hit the US directly.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. And this is kind of fun. We're hearing a lot of crickets out this time of year. Can you tell us about the temperatures?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. I love this, because crickets are like little thermometers everywhere, and it's great to hear them at night. They actually react to the temperature. Those little chirps you hear? That's them rubbing their wings together. They got little combs that rub against each other. And if you count those chirps in 15 seconds and add 40, it gives you the temperature. So if you get 30 chirps--
NINA MOINI: Whoa!
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. 30 chirps in 15 seconds plus 40, it's about 70 degrees. It's pretty accurate within a degree or two. So hey, those little critters can tell us something about the weather, too.
NINA MOINI: I had no idea. What a fun fact. Thank you. More fun facts for us on this week's Climate Cast. Can you tell us what's coming up?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, it's all about the bugs this week, right? Fireflies. It's been a good year for those, too, in Minnesota, in the northeast. And we'll talk to an expert about how climate change is impacting fireflies. That's on Climate Cast tomorrow afternoon during All Things Considered.
NINA MOINI: Love it. I've been seeing those everywhere. Thanks so much, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner.
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