Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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A narrow band of showers and thunderstorms may cross Minnesota overnight into Wednesday morning. NOAA’s HRRR model above shows a narrow line of showers and possible thunderstorms crossing the state between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. Wednesday.

After that fleeting rain chance, the forecast maps strongly favor another dry week ahead for most of Minnesota. And that means our ongoing drought will deepen in many areas over the next week or two. 

Last weekend’s abundant rains focused mainly on southern Minnesota. Many growing areas picked up 1 to more than 2 inches of rainfall in the last week. 

That was enough to help many crops maintain growth. 

 this week shows that 71 percent of Minnesota’s corn is in fair to good condition, with 5 percent in excellent condition.  Soybeans show similar development.

Though crops have benefitted from recent rains, it’s not enough to raise water levels in many area lakes, ponds and rivers. Surface water across Minnesota remains at near-record-low levels in many areas. 

Many areas in northern Minnesota received little rainfall in the past week.

The upper air pattern over North America over the next week favors mostly dry weather for the Upper Midwest. Forecast models print out very little precipitation across Minnesota and the Dakotas through Tuesday. 

Here’s the European model precipitation output through Tuesday.

 product is likely to show drought deepening across many parts of Minnesota. 

We’re going to need a significant and persistent pattern change in the next couple of months to dig out of this summer’s deepening drought. many areas are 6 inches below average rainfall this summer.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Recent rains helped some areas, but drought will deepen in the next week.

NOAA HRRR model from 1 am to 7 am Wednesday

NOAA via tropical tidbits

Midwest Regional Climate Center

European model (ECMWF) precipitation output

A few thunderstorms overnight, then another long dry spell ahead for Minnesota

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