Dorian swamps Outer Banks; mild end of September in Minnesota?
The long range outlook favors a mild end of September in Minnesota.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
When it comes to Hurricane Dorian, the weather hits just keep on comin’.
Dorian put a direct hit on Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks Friday morning. The sudden surge inundated streets and homes on Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands.
The USGS tidal gauge at Hatteras Island spiked about 7 feet as the of wall wind-driven storm surge slammed inland as Dorian’s center swept by.
Storm surge whiplash
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
What happened along the Outer Banks today is the result of a shift in wind direction as Dorian swept by. First, easterly winds ahead of the storm pushed water from Pamlico Sound westward away from Hatteras and Ocracoke. Residents could see the sea bottom, where there was usually water.
Then storm surge from North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound whip-lashed across the sound toward the islands as Dorian’s wind shift swept by. NOAA’s HWRF hurricane model shows the sudden wind shift from east to west as Dorian’s center swept by. That’s what drove the slosh of storm surge back across Pamlico Sound into the Outer Banks.
Minnesota: Better than expected weekend?
Our weekend weather still looks sub-par for the first weekend in September. But today’s forecast models look slightly better than they did earlier for this weekend. The trend is for fewer, if any showers Saturday. Sunday’s rain is tending south, but much of southern Minnesota including the Twin Cities could get wet Sunday.
The weekend still looks cool. Temperatures recover back into the 70s next week.
Wet pattern next week
Next week’s weather maps look wet. Two separate rain systems push across Minnesota. The first shot comes Monday. The next shot arrives Wednesday and Thursday.
Many models suggest the potential for 1 to 3 inches of rain across Minnesota next week. Here’s NOAA’s GFS rainfall output.
Summery September swan song?
The longer range maps for late September suggest summery temperatures may linger this year. This weekend looks cool, but as of right now I don’t see any early-season cold snaps coming our way.
The upper air maps suggest a mostly mild (but periodically wet) Pacific flow into late September.
The medium-range forecast models suggest more 70s, and even another shot at 80 degrees in mid to late September.
NOAA’s latest week 3-4 outlook favors milder than average air across much of the U.S. into early October.
Stay tuned.