Updraft

I woke up today and the weather map looked like June. A front divides Minnesota today. Northwest it feels like fall, southeast like summer. Sunshine and temps near 80 will be the rule in the metro today. Thunderstorms will fire along and near the front later tonight, and there is a risk of a few…

Finally the sun! After four dreary days, the sun returns today around Minnesota. That’s good news for waterlogged fields and lawns. Excellent drying conditions will include a bright sun, a good breeze, low humidity around 30 percent, and mild temps in the 70s later today. NWS Twin Cities Weather Story The sun will be bright…

I’ve been in denial for a while now. I know summer is way over, but recent temps in the 70’s and a warmer than average (+3.8 degrees) month have allowed me to maintain the illusion. September Climate Summary One look at the calendar jolted me back to reality. I turned the page over to October…

Mark Twain said it best. “It takes a flood to end a drought.” Here in Minnesota this year, it’s taken two floods. The Winona-Rochester flood last month was followed by another in the Iron Range and much of northeast Minnesota. We’ve had over a foot of rain in many areas of the state in the…

I was stunned to learn recently that Florida does not have a network of tornado sirens. In a state the leads the nation in the number of thunderstorms, you might think they would have installed them by now. Tha city of Oviedo near Orlando in central Florida is installing 8 sirens for a cost of…

They’re called Skywarn. When severe storms threaten, they spring into action. Over 400 trained volunteers around the 12 county metro area scan the sky and report what they see back to the National Weather Service. They’re looking for specifics. Winds greater than 50 mph, 3/4″ diameter hail, flash flooding and tornadoes. They are the “ground…

It’s official. An EF0 tornado touched down in Woodbury last Thursday evening. EF0 means “Enhanced Fujita Scale 0, with winds of 65 to 85 mph. As tornadoes go, that’s considered weak. Try telling that to the folks who’s townhomes got their walls blown out. Woodbury Tornado Info Another round of thunderstorms is likely today, and…

Huh? Why wouldn’t warnings be based on storms? Yes it seems to be stating the obvious, but the NWS move to the new Storm-Based warning system on October 1st is designed to cut down on false alarms. The current county-based system can lead to a wider warning area, and leaves people wondering why there’s a…

Finally the rains came for parched central Minnesota. Tuesday’s long duration rainfall event laid down a swath of 1 to 2 inches from the metro to Willmar to St. Cloud to Hinckley. Rainfall Totals Three to 6 inches soaked the Iron Range and Gunflint Train in the BWCA. The rain fell right in the places…

Late for work today? Tell the boss you ran into a “vort max.” That should take her a while to figure out. Vort maxes or “Vorticity Maximums” are what we look for on the weather maps as we try to forecast rain. The one coming through this morning helped slow your morning commute by generating…