Air quality alerts, heat this week; hopeful late week rain chances
A string of 90s continues
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Hot weather continues through the week with surface level ozone reducing air quality as well. Rainfall becomes increasingly possible later this week into the weekend.
Air quality alert accompanies the heat
It’s back. Reduced air quality will accompany the continued stretch of hot weather. This time we’re looking at just ozone rather than wildfire smoke. An air quality alert is posted for much of Minnesota through 9 p.m. Thursday.
Surface level ozone is the result of a chemical reaction of the sun and heat with pollutants. Light winds and inversions from a hot air mass can allow this surface ozone to build up to poor levels.
The forecast for Tuesday is for unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups for much of central and southern Minnesota.
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You can track current air quality conditions here:
Hot through Saturday; potential late week rain
A massive upper-level high pressure ridge is creating hotter than normal conditions not just in Minnesota but from Mexico through all of central North America up through northeastern Canada.
For those familiar with statistics, this model is more than 3 standard deviations above the 1991-2020 climatological normal (or 3 sigma) high pressure over Mexico. This would put it in record territory.
Minnesota is in between these 2 (eastern Canada) to 3 (Mexico) sigma hot spots, so it’s not quite record-breaking but is certainly above normal by 10 or more degrees.
High temperatures in southern Texas and northern Mexico will be in the 110s these next few days.
We can consider ourselves lucky, that while it will continue to be hot this week with several more 90 degree days for southern Minnesota, we are unlikely to break records.
The other big story is the developing system that looks to hopefully bring a good widespread chance of rain and thunder starting Wednesday and Thursday in northwestern Minnesota and slowly making it’s way into the Twin Cities and southeastern Minnesota by Saturday and Sunday.
This could change, but it still looks like much of Minnesota could get a decent and needed soaking of rainfall through the weekend.
