North Shore Chinook: Silver Bay 45 degrees!
Some call it the Swedish Riviera. Today the North Shore is living up to that name.
Most of Minnesota was enjoying temperatures in the 20s and lower 30s this afternoon. But in a quirk of Minnesota weather, temperatures surged to 45 degrees this afternoon at Silver Bay. Bank thermometers flashed as warm as 42 degrees on the streets of Grand Marais this afternoon.
WEATHER ROUNDUP FOR MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
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200 PM CST WED FEB 17 2010
Northeast Minnesota
CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS
DULUTH MOSUNNY 36 15 42 N10 30.01F
ELY SUNNY 34 10 37 N8 30.02S WCI 27
HIBBING SUNNY 35 8 32 NW13 30.05F WCI 26
EVELETH SUNNY 37 5 25 N9 30.05S
DULUTH HARBOR SUNNY 36 19 51 W9 30.04S
TWO HARBORS SUNNY 39 16 38 N6 29.99S
SILVER BAY SUNNY 45 10 24 NW8 29.98F
GRAND MARAIS Harbor 41 7 24 N8 30.00S
G MARAIS ARPRT (Top of hill) SUNNY 34 3 27 NW12 29.97S WCI 25
So why is it warmer on the North Shore today than anywhere else in Minnesota?
It's called downslope. And it's the same atmospheric phenomenon that produces the big Chinook Winds on the eastern slopes of the Rockies near Denver and Rapid City.
Anyone who's driven Highway 61, the Gunflint Trail or skied Lutsen knows that the Sawtooth Mountains abruptly rise over 1,000 feet above Lake Superior in a short distance. As the air rushes down the slopes on a northwest wind, it warms at the rate of about 5 to 10 degrees per thousand feet of descent. We call this the dry adiabatic lapse rate in meteorology.
On days like today when temperatures are in the lower 30s on top of the hill, the air can easily warm 10 degrees as it flows downslope toward Lake Superior. It's one of the "best kept secrets" of North Shore weather. North Shore communities are often warmer on days like this than anywhere in the Upper Midwest. In fact at 2pm CST today, Silver Bay at 45 is warmer than Chicago (32), St. Louis (33) Kansas City (39) and even Atlanta (43)!
Another factor in warming the North Shore is the pine tree effect. The upstream air mass is already warmed on the iron range by the sunlight interaction with the coniferous forests. So temperatures are already in the 30s even before the air begins to descend toward the big lake.
We can truly boast some of the warmest temperatures in the middle part of the nation right here in Minnesota today, thanks to the North Shore Chinook!
PH