Rain eases, 70s ahead; is Duluth America’s most climate-proof city?
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Chalk up another heavy downpour event for Minnesota.
Today's rains outperformed even the most aggressive forecast model projections. Several inches of rainfall flooded local streets in towns like Northfield, Dundas, and Roberts, Wisconsin. Mudslides closed Highway 169 near St. Peter.
Dopper radar storm total rainfall shows the bands of multi-inch rainfall south.
Rainfall totals from 2 to 4-plus inches fell in some communities.
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6 S Hudson [St. Croix Co, WI] TRAINED SPOTTER reports HEAVY RAIN of 2.42 INCH at 2:10 PM CDT --
NEW Prague [Scott Co, MN] MESONET reports HEAVY RAIN of 2.35 INCH at 2:45 PM CDT -- MESONET STATION DW6276 NEW PRAGUE.
1 ESE ST. Peter [Nicollet Co, MN] CO-OP OBSERVER reports HEAVY RAIN of 2.49 INCH at 2:00 PM CDT -- CO-OP OBSERVER STATION SPTM5 ST PETER.
2 WNW Northfield [Rice Co, MN] MESONET reports HEAVY RAIN of 3.98 INCH at 2:40 PM CDT -- MESONET STATION CW2550 NORTHFIELD.
River Falls [Pierce Co, WI] CO-OP OBSERVER reports HEAVY RAIN of 4.36 INCH at 3:45 PM CDT --
Northfield [Rice Co, MN] EMERGENCY MNGR reports FLASH FLOOD at 12:50 PM CDT -- FLOWING WATER OVER ROADWAYS IN AND AROUND NORTHFIELD, INTERSECTIONS FLOODED UP TO KNEE DEEP.
Drying out, warming up
Spotty light showers linger under a cool breeze Thursday. The sun returns Friday. Temperatures spike upward. 70 degrees now looks likely in much of Minnesota Saturday afternoon.
Duluth: America's most climate-proof city?
Sun-belt snowbirds migrating back to a city that average 86 inches of snow and 39 subzero nights in winter?
Harvard researcher Jessee Keenan thinks it's possible. Here's my conversation with him from today's Climate Cast on MPR News stations.
And The Weather Channel has an interesting take on the notion of "climigrating" to Duluth.
One professor at Harvard has a somewhat outlandish idea. Jessie Keenan believes your new home might be in a small Rust Belt town on the banks of Lake Superior with brutally cold winters, stunningly beautiful hills and a small but growing population of urban hipsters who brew their own beer, butcher their own meat and knit their own sweaters. In a bit of marketing bravado not typically found in Ivy League academics, Keenan has christened this place the “Most Climate Proof City in America.” Otherwise known as Duluth, Minnesota.
