What’s that smell?

Don't you love it when you arrive at that first morning of the autumn season when you begrudgingly kick the heat on? You are treated to the aroma of the accumulation of dust on the elements that burns off as the furnace generates heat for the first time in nearly four months.

On my morning walk, I observed a light frost on roof tops and automobiles in the southwest metro, where my back yard thermometer registered a low of 35 degrees. Outside the heat island of the Twin Cities temperatures dipped to between 35 and 40 degrees. This was the coolest morning in many places since May 26th.

Partly cloudy skies held the temperatures up some in northeast Minnesota. None-the-less it was a little nippy statewide at daybreak.

Moderation in temperatures is seen for Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday. With a return flow out of the south. This invasion of milder air is likely to trigger a wet period. Showers and thunderstorms are a good bet for central and northern Minnesota Wednesday night and Thursday. Currently, it appears the heaviest rains, of greater than an inch, are expected from Willmar to Brainerd to Duluth.

Here in the Twin Cities, the precipitation deficit for the year has now reached six inches, with only sixteen and a half inches of moisture. Compare that to nearly thirty-six inches at Madison, Wisconsin for 2008.

CE