Heat Storm: 103 is hottest day in 23 years! Cool front ahead
Update 11:09PM:
The latest from Twin Cities NWS.
Record Heat
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Fast Facts:
The high of 103° observed so far at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport:
Breaks the previous June 7th record of 95° set in 2004.
Was the first 100°+ reading since July 31, 2006.
Was the first 103°+ reading in almost 23 years, since July 31, 1988.
Was tied for the second warmest temperature in the past 69 years (July 31, 1988 with 105° was the only warmer one)
Was the second earliest on record that 103° had occurred, only behind May 31, 1934.
Fell 1° short of the all-time June record of 104° set on June 27th, 1934.
Record Heat:
Tuesday June 7th
A record high was set at Minneapolis on Tuesday, June 7th - The previous record high was 95 degrees set in 2004. The temperature rose to 103 degrees at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport at 326 PM CDT.
This marks the hottest day since 1988 according to NWS records when the mercury hit 105 at MSP Airport on July 31, 1988.
PH
****
Now we know what it's like to live inside a hair dryer.
The hottest air in the nation hit the Twin cities with blast furnace heat today. We blew the previous record of 95 degrees (2004) for the date out of the water in the Twin Cities today.
Record High Set at Minneapolis on Tuesday, June 7th - The previous record high was 95 degrees set in 2004. The temperature rose to 102 degrees at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport as of 220 PM CDT...and could still rise before the end of the day. The last time it was 102 degrees in the Twin Cities was July 15th 1988.
We also smashed the all time state record for Minnesota today according to an email I received today from my MPR colleague and UM climate guru Dr. Mark Seeley.
"I expect that we will not only see new station record highs this afternoon, but also perhaps a new statewide record high for the date. The all-time record for June 7th is 100 degrees F at Madison and Lamberton in 1987."
We may not yet be at the day's high...it could get hotter before 6pm tonight.
Stay cool!
PH
******
Talk about "instant summer."
[image]
-The thermometer at Twin Cities Airport flashed 97 degrees at 5:43pm Monday, marking the hottest day in 2 years for the metro. The last time we hit 97? May 19th 2009.
MAX/MIN TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION TABLE FOR
CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
711 AM CDT TUE JUN 7 2011
VALUES REPRESENT HIGHS YESTERDAY...LOWS OVER THE LAST 12 HOURS
AND PRECIPITATION OVER THE LAST 24 HOURS
:
: MAX MIN
:ID LOCATION TEMP TEMP PCPN
EAU : EAU CLAIRE WI : 94 / 67 / 0.00
MSP : MINNEAPOLIS MN : 97 / 78 / 0.00
STC : ST CLOUD MN : 94 / 69 / 0.00
AXN : ALEXANDRIA MN : 91 / 67 / 0.00
MIC : CRYSTAL MN : 95 / 70 / 0.00
FCM : FLYING CLOUD MN : 96 / 75 / 0.00
RWF : REDWOOD FALLS MN : 98 / 74 / 0.00
STP : ST PAUL MN : 94 / 71 / 0.00
:
Twin Cities NWS calls the record below.
-Record High Set at Minneapolis on Monday, June 6th - A record high temperature of 97° was recorded at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport on Monday. The record high temperature occurred at 5:43 pm. This broke the old record of 95 degrees set in 1987 and 1979.
-Temperatures hit the 100 degree mark in Redwood Falls and Fairmont Monday, and pushed well into the upper 90s elswhere.
IN MINNESOTA
:
BTHM5: BLUE EARTH MN : DH0600/ M / 61 / 0.00
CFAM5: CANNON FALLS MN : DH0600/ 93 / 70 / 0.00
MPXM5: CHANHASSEN WFO : DH0600/ 93 / 67 / 0.00
CHKM5: CHASKA NW MN : DH0600/ 95 / 66 / 0.00
FIRM5: FAIRMONT MN : DH0700/ 100 / 74 / 0.00
FORM5: FOREST LAKE MN : DH0700/ 94 / 65 / 0.00
HSTM5: HASTINGS L/D MN : DH0600/ 94 / 70 / 0.00
JORM5: JORDAN MN : DH0530/ 94 / 71 / 0.00
KIMM5: KIMBALL MN : DH0600/ 91 / 62 / 0.00
LNGM5: LONG PRAIRIE MN : DH0600/ 88 / 57 / 0.00
LSAM5: LWR ST ANTHONY MN : DH0600/ 90 / 65 / 0.00
MVDM5: MONTEVIDEO MN : DH0700/ 97 / 65 / 0.00
RDWM5: RED WING L/D MN : DH0520/ 93 / 69 / 0.00
REWM5: REDWOOD FALLS MN : DH0500/ 100 / 65 / 0.00
RCEM5: RICE MN : DH0700/ 93 / 65 / 0.00
Hottest day in 5 years today?
Tuesday has the potential to be the hottest day in 5 years in parts of southern Minnesota. It is highly likely that bank thermometers will flash 100 degrees in several southern Minnesota towns, including a few in the Twin Cities metro area.
The last time the Twin Cities felt 100 degrees was nearly 5 years ago on July 31, 2006. That day the thermometer at MSP Airport blinked a scorching 101 degrees.
One forecast technique we use as meteorologists is to take an air parcel from about 5,000 feet and "mix down" to the surface to forecast maximum temperatures. If you do that today, and we get full sun and everything else goes just right, that technique yields a high temperature between 100 to 104 degrees in southern Minnesota today. We may not get that high, but the air mass is capable of that kind of heat!
Excessive Heat Warning:
We don't get many EHW's in Minnesota, but this dangerously hot high pressure dome warrants the warning today.
The cirteria for the NWS to issue excessive heat warnings in the metro is fairly straight forward.
I worked in Chicago during the infamous killer 1995 Chicago heat wave and covered the event along with meteorologist Tom Skilling for WGN-TV. Over 700 people died that week, and we learned that heat is cumulative on the human body. If you can't cool off at night, your body just can't keep up with daytime temps that feel like or exceed 100 degrees.
One of the main features of that killer heat wave was that nighttime temperatures never dropped below 81 degrees for a few days, and that just didn't give people a chance to cool down. Many elderly victims succumbed to the heat inside red brick apartments that acted like ovens in the oppressive heat.
Needless to say take care today to stay cool, and check on elderly friends, neighbors and relatives to see that they are cool.
More records will fall today:
The record high of 95 degrees today in the metro (set back in 2004) will almost certainly fall today. Here are some additional records that are likely to fall today.
Mercifully our barbaric heat blast will be brief. A cold front will sail through tomorrow and drop temperatures 20 degrees in southern Minnesota.
Smoke from Arizona fires visible in Minnesota today?
You may notice a whitish tint to the sky today, and vivid colors at sunset tonight.
The smoke plume from the massive wildfires in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona has travelled over a thousand miles and should filter into Minnesota today. The smoke was already visible in Iowa Monday, and brisk southerly winds today should inject the plume right into Minnesota.
The Wallow Fire (named after the area in which the fire began) is massive and growing on hot dry Arizona winds.
The fires near the beautiful mountain resorts of Greer and Alpine in eastern Arizona have burned over 230,000 acres. I have vacationed in Greer, and it is an absolutely stunningly beautiful mountain valley tucked into the mountains. It is sad to see that area could be forever changed by the massive fires.
Smoke visible from webcam in Greer Arizona Tuesday morning.
During the 9 years I spent in Arizona well over a million acres of prime Ponderosa Pine forest went up in smoke before my eyes. I covered the tragic firestorm in the town of Summerhaven in the Santa Catalina Mountains live on air in Tucson on June 20, 2003.
The landscape is dramatically different now, even as the town tries to bounce back.
In "marginal climate zones" like the mountains of Arizona you can't help wonder if we're witnessing the effects of climate change right before our eyes as millions of acres of forests that have stood for hundreds or thousands of years go up in smoke before our eyes.
PH