Drought spreads across Minnesota; some shower chances ahead
Cooler and more comfortable still Thursday
The latest data shows drought conditions expanding across Minnesota. We have some showers west Thursday and statewide chances of spotty thunder late Friday into Saturday before cooling off again Sunday.
Latest data shows drought expanding
Drought has returned to pockets of Minnesota with abnormally dry conditions expanding — 72 percent of Minnesota is now abnormally dry with 12 percent in moderate drought. This is up from 65 percent and 0.8 percent a week ago, respectively.
Precipitation anomalies (difference from normal) for the past 30 days highlight some of these particularly dry areas. This map shows percent of normal rainfall for the most recent 30 days:
Spotty shower chances ahead but continued cooler until next week
The center of that dominant upper-level high-pressure heat dome is now to our west and a cool front has stalled out in western Minnesota south into the mid-Atlantic states. Clouds and showers are all set up along this front.
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Western Minnesota will see some lingering showers Thursday and muggier dew points hanging on to near 60 degrees.
The rest of us will see comfortable conditions and more sunshine east and northeast. Dew points in eastern Minnesota are in the 30s and 40s, considerably drier than in western Minnesota. High temperatures will be mainly in the 70s with 80s west.
Another cool front will slide in from the north late Friday into Saturday touching off the next chance of spotty showers and isolated thunder. Unfortunately, this will not bring a widespread soaking rain but a continued hit-and-miss variety of rainfall.
We’ll then see a cool day Sunday with highs only in the 70s, nearly statewide.
The heat looks to build back in for next week so enjoy the break.
Smoke and air quality
Minnesota air quality has improved into the good to moderate category for most Thursday.
Check the latest air quality conditions:
Here are air quality forecasts for the next couple of days also:
In the northeast, the air quality is dismal with New York City reaching it’s poorest air quality on record Wednesday. The worst air quality Thursday is around the Philadelphia area.
