Sweaty Days

As I bicycled between the Minneapolis Campus and the St Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota I felt unusually tired and sweaty this morning....then when I checked the dewpoint reading from the St Paul Campus Climate Observatory I understood why....it read 76 degrees F, a value greater than what Cancun, Mexico was reporting this morning (dewpoint was 72 F there). At the same hour and behind the cold front that was draped across the state Fergus Falls reported a dewpoint of only 55 degrees F. I sure hope that air makes its way down here to the Twin Cities later today.

As I cooled off in my air conditioned office I remembered July 29th is noted for its heat in Minnesota history. For example, take the climate record at Beardsley (Big Stone County) and check out 1917. On this date that year Beardsley weather observer J.L. Fitzgerald reported an afternoon high of 114 degrees F, a state record. He noted on his observation sheet that corn and potato crops were not looking good.

More recently remember July 29, 1999. Dewpoints ranged from the lows 70s to low 80s F around the state that day and Heat Index (HI) values were near record-setting. Combining the effects of air temperature and dewpoint the air that day felt like 107 degrees F at Moorhead and in the Twin Cities, 109 degrees F at Detroit Lakes, 115 degrees F at Marshall and Montevideo, and 119 degrees F at Redwood Falls. I would be curious to know what beverage sales were like that day around the state. It is almost impossible to stay hydrated under such conditions.