Minnesota's Mediterranean Summer of 2021
Minnesota's weather has resembled a Mediterranean summer this year.
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Welcome to Barcelona.
Most of Minnesota is living through a summer that’s more typical of Mediterranean climates than our typical Minnesota summers. By most metrics, our warm and dry summer has created one of Minnesota’s deepest droughts in decades. And this type of summer weather in Minnesota is more typical of climate zones in the northern Mediterranean Sea.
Very warm and dry
Summer temperatures in Minnesota are running about 4 degrees warmer than average in much of Minnesota.
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So far the average temperature for the Twin Cities since June 1 is about 76 degrees. That’s not far from the summer average temperature in places like Barcelona, Spain, which is about 77 degrees.
Droughty
Most of Minnesota picks up more than 12-inches of rain in an average summer. Summer rainfall in Minnesota has been scant with many areas showing 6 to 10-inch rainfall deficits since June 1.
Before Tuesday’s rainfall, the Twin Cities recorded just 5.44 inches of rain since June 1. That’s not much more than the summer average rainfall of around 5 inches in Barcelona.
So when you compare Minnesota’s summer weather this year to other climate zones around the globe, this summer is more typical of some Mediterranean climates than a typical lukewarm, rainy Minnesota summer.
