Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

It's a Kansas City summer in the Twin Cities

Temperatures over past month in the Twin Cities are more typical of Kansas City

MSP temperatures over the past 30 days
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport temperatures over the past 30 days.
Twin Cities National Weather Service office

Welcome to Kansas City. With lakes.

The past 30-day period in the Twin Cities is the sixth warmest 30-day period on record. It’s also closer to the average temperatures in Kansas City, Mo., more than 400 miles south. The average daily high temperature in the Twin Cities over the last month has been 87.3 degrees.

The Twin Cities National Weather Service office sent this eye-catching tweet Wednesday:

We’ve already endured 13 days of 90-degree heat this summer in the Twin Cities. That’s the average for an entire year, and almost half of meteorological summer still lies ahead.

This is also the 10th driest monthly period on record for the Twin Cities, dating back to 1973.

Searching for rain

I’m scanning the weather maps for much-needed rainfall these dry days. But rainfall looks spotty and scarce overall for the next week.

I expect Thursday morning’s updated U.S. Drought Monitor to increase the coverage of drought in Minnesota, especially in areas from around the Twin Cities westward into much of central Minnesota along the U.S. Highway 212, U.S. Highway 12 and Minnesota Highway 7 corridors.

The best chances for a quenching downpour from localized thunderstorms arrive Saturday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NAM 3 km resolution model paints scattered strong storms mostly across central Minnesota Saturday.

The loop below runs between 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday.

NOAA NAM model
North American Mesoscale Forecast System model between 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday
NOAA, via Tropical Tidbits

Overall rainfall totals look scarce in the next week. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model cranks out some rainfall totals of 1 inch or more over the next seven days.

European model (ECMWF) precipitation output
Precipitation output through next Tuesday.
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

But keep in mind that summer convective rainfall patterns are usually patchwork at best.

At least we’ll be a few degrees cooler and less humid than the past several days. Highs Thursday will mostly run in the 70s to lower 80s north, with mid to upper 80s south.

Forecast high temperatures Thursday
Forecast high temperatures Thursday
NOAA

Friday brings another shot at 90 degrees across southern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities.

Forecast high temperatures Friday
Forecast high temperatures Friday.
NOAA

Another cool front arrives Sunday with highs in the lower 80s and comfortable dew points in the 40s.

We need rain.

Stay tuned.

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