Taste of fall now, summer on a stick Thursday
From the Weather Lab it looks like Earth has tilted on her axis.
Back to school for students in Minneapolis. A perfect weather week leading up to the 2015 Minnesota State Fair. The Twins still just 1.5 games back from a Wild card spot in late August?
Yes, the seasonal weather worm has definitely turned in Minnesota. The season formerly known as summer is making her last few laps around the Land of 10,000 Lakes. This summer has been nothing short of spectacular. When the updated Summer Glory Index comes in at the end of August, I suspect we'll find this has indeed been a "Top 5 summer" in Minnesota. Maybe even Top 3.
Taste of fall
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You can feel it in the air. Gusty northwest winds, lower humidity and cooler temps remind us that September is a week away. Temps hold in the 60s over the northeast half of Minnesota today. More balmy 70s in southwest Minnesota preview coming attractions this week.
September winds
Yes, it's still late August. But the weather maps scream September. Today's brisk northwest wind feels like back to school weather. Look for more whitecaps on Minnesota's lakes today as sustained winds of 15 to 20 mph gust over 25 mph at times.
Wrap around
Welcome to the Twin Cities microclimate.
Today brings a rather typical pattern with departing low pressure systems. The back edge of the system wrap around cloud deck lingers near the metro today.
Southwest metro communities will see more sun and temps as much as 5 to 10 degrees warmer this afternoon. It will be a lot sunnier in Shakopee than Stillwater today. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 1 km resolution GOES satellite loop shows the back edge of the clouds swirling through the metro.
Summer on a stick
It will feel more like summer Thursday as the 2015 Minnesota State Fair kicks off.
Temperatures push 80 Thursday, but our next front brings in scattered showers and thunderstorms by Thursday night and Friday. The first weekend of the fair looks summer like with highs near 80 and more sun.
Here's a look at weather history at the fair from the Minnesota Climatology Working Group.
Temperature
There can be some spells of hot weather during the Minnesota State Fair. The hottest day in the history of the Minnesota State Fair was on September 10, 1931 with 104 degrees. The hottest average temperature for the duration of any State Fair back to 1885 is also 1931 with 92.6 degrees. Note that the Minnesota State Fair in 1931 ran eight days from September 5-12.
The 2013 Fair was the third warmest on record with 88.2 degrees and also had the most 90-degree high temperatures on record with six days. 2012 had the sixth warmest average maximum temperature with 87.1 degrees. The coolest Minnesota State Fair was during the six-day run of the Fair from September 5-10 1898 with an average maximum temperature of 64.2 degrees.
The coldest maximum temperature for the Fair is 52 degrees on September 7, 1911, and the coldest minimum temperature is 33 degrees on September 13, 1890. The coolest Fair morning in recent years was a chilly 36 degrees on September 1, 1974.
Precipitation
On average it rains about three to four days during the Fair's 12-day run. The wettest Fair was in 1977 with 9.48 inches, and the driest Fair was 2003 with only .02 inch of rain.
The largest rain event in the State Fair's history was August 30, 1977. At 8:20pm heavy rains hit the State Fairgrounds. The U of M St. Paul Campus climate observatory one mile north of the Fairgrounds reported 4.06 inches of rain.
This caused some of the worst street flooding seen at the Fairgrounds. The bulk of the rain fell in a 3 1/2 hour period from 8:15pm to 11:45pm. The grandstand show was cancelled, and people had great difficulty trying to leave the Fair.
The Twin Cities International Airport saw 7.28 inches from this event, second all-time only to the July 1987 "Superstorm" total of 10.00 inches. People driving on I-94 leaving the Fair found water "up to their hood ornaments" in low areas under bridges.
Record season for NOAA IMETS who staff the fire lines
Some of the first near the front lines of huge wildfires? NOAA's Incident Meteorologists (IMETS) who staff the fire lines to forecast, brief and keep crews safe during wildfire season.
This year a total of 86 have been deployed, with 35 in the field at once. That's a news record as wildfires rage out west.
Here's more on this interesting slice of 'field meteorology' from NOAA.
More than 40,000 fires have burned over seven million acres in the U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), making this year one of the worst wildfire seasons so far. Residents in many western states have been evacuated from their homes as hot, dry, and windy conditions fuel active fires.
Firefighters battling these blazes are not working alone. Specially trained meteorologists known as Incident Meteorologists, or IMETs, provide weather forecasts critical to fighting these fires. This year, NOAA has deployed 86 IMETs to support fire managers. Recently NOAA had a record 35 IMETs in the field in a single day, setting a new record for wildland fire weather support.
Having the latest information about incoming weather patterns that could affect the characteristics of a given fire is vital to planning wildfire suppression efforts and ensuring firefighter safety. IMETs provide this support on-site and tailored to a specific incident. Fire weather forecasters can produce timely forecasts of wind direction and speed using a mini weather forecasting station designed for field use.
NIFC, which NOAA is a partner, is operating under National Preparedness Level 5, the highest level. At this level, fire managers can tap more federal and state employees for fire mobilization as needed. Currently, nearly 30,000 people are supporting fire managers on active wildfires in ten states -- California; Colorado; Idaho; Louisiana; Montana; North Carolina; Nevada; Oregon; Texas; and Washington. Although Alaska’s wildfires have stabilized due to cooler and wetter conditions, damage was considerable - over five million acres burned across the state.