Warming trend kicks in, weekend trending drier?
This morning was very likely the coldest morning until for several months.
Frost graced lawns as expected in the north metro this morning. MPR News weather spy Dennis Stephens captured close up proof this morning in Blaine.
Frost is still common in northern Minnesota into late May, even early June. But the frost threat looks to be behind the metro and southern Minnesota now.
In case you were wondering, here are the spring frost free dates across Minnesota from the Minnesota Climatology Working Group.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The weather maps favor high pressure and dry skies across Minnesota through Friday.
The warming trend kicks in today, and temps make a run at 70 degrees Thursday and Friday afternoon.
Memorial Day weekend changes?
The forecast for Memorial Day weekend shows some potential flux. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model has warmed and pulled the mention of showers Sunday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System clings to some scattered rain and thunder. I'm not ready to buy into a totally dry weekend just yet, but it won't rain all weekend either.
Stay tuned as we fine tune the weekend forecast.
May 'peak CO2' likely to hit record
May is the month when CO2 peaks in the northern hemisphere. Increasing vegetation growth begins to suck CO2 from the atmosphere in summer. This May looks to set yet another record for peak CO2. here's more from Climate Central.
Any day now, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will reach their annual peak in a cycle driven by the collective inhale and exhale of the world’s plant life. But because of the extra CO2 pumped into the air by human activities, this year’s peak will be higher than last year’s, which was higher than the year before that — a sign of the unabated emissions that are driving the Earth’s temperature ever upward.
The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been measured at the observatory atop Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano since 1958, producing a record that shows not only the yearly maximum and minimum driven by the spring bloom and fall dieback of plants, but also the steady climb in CO2 levels every year.
The last few years have seen a spate of atmospheric CO2 milestones in the Mauna Loa record: The first measurement of CO2 above 400 parts per million (ppm) in May 2013, the first month entirely above 400 ppm in April of last year, and this year will likely see several months with an average above that level.
