Wet and wetter: Rain returns Wednesday

The wet weather hits just keep on coming.

I detailed the records we’re setting across Minnesota over the past year in Tuesday’s Updraft post.

The Twin Cities logged another .59 inch of rainfall Tuesday, putting our annual precipitation total for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport at 35.6 inches so far for 2019.

We’re now less than 5 inches away from the wettest calendar year on record. The current record is 40.32 inches set just three years ago in 2016.

Here comes the rain, again

With apologies to Annie Lennox, that Eurythmics song best sums up our perpetually soggy weather year. Our next rainmaker spreads rain across Minnesota Wednesday afternoon through Wednesday night.

By the time the rain tapers in the Twin Cities tomorrow morning another one-half inch to 1 inch is likely.

The Canadian GEM model shows the advancing rain shield from Wednesday afternoon into midday Thursday.

By late Thursday, another one-half to 1 inch will be common across Minnesota. Here’s the precipitation output from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System model.

A few flakes up north

It’s that time of year. It will be cold enough for some wet snowflakes in northern Minnesota towns like Ely and International Falls. I don’t think much will accumulate, but Boundary Waters Canoe Area campers may have to contend with some wet snowflakes late Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Milder next week

We return to more typical October weather next week. Sunday through Wednesday brings a welcome dry period. The longer-range outlooks suggest high temperatures should reach the mid- to upper 60s in the Twin Cities next week.

Next week should bring some classic fall weather to Minnesota. And some fine fall baseball weather at Target Field.