Frost and freeze advisories Friday morning; drought expands
Highs in the 80s likely Saturday and again next week
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Get ready for the first frost of the year for much of central Minnesota. And freeze warnings are flying farther north. Temperatures will fall into the lower 30s in the far north early Friday morning.
We’re spiraling quickly into drought across Minnesota in this persistently parched weather pattern.
The area of moderate drought in Minnesota nearly tripled this week. Last week, 15 percent of Minnesota was in moderate drought. This week it’s 43 percent.
Ninety-four percent of Minnesota is now either in drought or abnormally dry, heading for drought. There is little or no meaningful rain in the forecast maps for at least another week. Light rainfall may occur across northern Minnesota.
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Here’s more detail on our expanding Midwest drought from this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor discussion:
Meanwhile, in areas unaffected by Helene, severe drought (D2) was introduced in northern Wisconsin and much of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and also expanded to cover a larger part of southwestern Missouri. Meanwhile, D0 and D1 conditions expanded substantially in the rest of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and to a lesser extent Iowa. Accumulated precipitation over the past 60 days is above normal across Kentucky, southern Illinois, and part of southeastern Missouri while totals are 3 to 6 inches below normal in the northern Great Lakes region, southern Minnesota, most of Iowa, northwestern Illinois, and most of northern and western Missouri. Over the northern Great Lakes, northern Minnesota, the west half of Iowa, and part of western Missouri, these totals were near or less than half of normal. The lack of rain is significantly impacting livestock and some field drops across southwestern Missouri and adjacent areas.
Changeable weekend ahead
If you don’t like the weather, just wait a day this weekend. Friday looks glorious with lots of sun and light winds but cool.
Saturday brings summery winds again, with gusts to 30 mph and highs into the 80s once again.
Another fast-moving cold front drops temperatures 20 degrees on gusty northwest winds Sunday.
Summery again next week
Persistent southerly winds bring warmth back to Minnesota next week. Highs in the 70s to 80 are likely once again.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admininstration outlooks continue to favor a warmer-than-normal October overall.
Stay tuned.