Sunshine and 80s today; Monday rain and thunder

We hit 80 degrees at Minneapolis-St. Paul International  Airport on Saturday. Our Sunday high will be one notch higher, in the lower 80s:

rt522h5

Many spots in Minnesota will top out in the lower 80s today, but it will be several degrees cooler along the north shore of Lake Superior due to winds off the lake.

Red Flag Warning

Southerly winds will increase this afternoon as a high pressure system moves away.

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The National Weather Service has posted a red flag warning from noon to 7pm today for much of north-central and northeastern Minnesota:

rt322red
NWS Duluth

Here are the red flag warning details:

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE...UPDATED

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN

527 AM CDT SUN MAY 22 2016

...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ACROSS NORTHEAST MINNESOTA

TODAY...

.THE WARM AND DRY WEATHER PATTERN WILL CONTINUE ACROSS NORTHEAST

MINNESOTA TODAY...WITH TEMPERATURES CLIMBING TO TO UPPER 70S AND

LOW 80S. GUSTY SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL DEVELOP BY THIS AFTERNOON. THE

COMBINATION OF DRY VEGETATION...LOW HUMIDITY...AND GUSTY WINDS

WILL RESULT IN CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ACROSS MUCH OF

NORTHEAST MINNESOTA NEAR AND NORTH OF HIGHWAY 2 THIS AFTERNOON

THROUGH EARLY EVENING.

MNZ010>012-018-019-025-026-035-037-221830-

/O.CON.KDLH.FW.W.0007.160522T1700Z-160523T0000Z/

KOOCHICHING-NORTH ST. LOUIS-NORTHERN COOK/NORTHERN LAKE-

NORTH ITASCA-CENTRAL ST. LOUIS-NORTH CASS-SOUTH ITASCA-

NORTHERN AITKIN-CARLTON/SOUTH ST. LOUIS-

527 AM CDT SUN MAY 22 2016

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 7 PM CDT

THIS EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND VERY DRY CONDITIONS FOR NORTHEAST

MINNESOTA...

* AFFECTED AREA...IN MINNESOTA...FIRE WEATHER ZONES 010...011...

012...018...019...025...026...035 AND 037.

* WINDS...SOUTH 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 MPH.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...20 TO 25 PERCENT.

* TEMPERATURES...UPPER 70S TO LOW 80S.

* IMPACTS...ANY FIRES THAT DEVELOP WILL LIKELY SPREAD RAPIDLY.

OUTDOOR BURNING IS DISCOURAGED.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS

ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW....OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF

STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES CAN

Foss Lake Wildfire

Firefighting efforts will continue today on the wildfire near Foss Lake in the Superior National Forest. The fire originated on Thursday about 10 miles west of Ely, Minnesota:

rt520fossmap

The wildfire is burning in part of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), and the Crab Lake entry point to the BWCAW has been closed.

The U.S. Forest Service posted this wildfire update Saturday evening:

Because the update was posted Saturday evening, "tomorrow" refers to Sunday.

Foss Lake Wildfire Update

 

Basic Information

Current as of‎5‎/‎22‎/‎2016‎ ‎12‎:‎01‎:‎28‎ ‎PMIncident TypeWildfireCauseHumanDate of OriginThursday May 19th, 2016 approx. 11:00 PMLocationNear Foss Lake; ~10 miles SW Ely, MinnesotaIncident CommanderBrian PisarekIncident DescriptionEscaped Prescribed Burn

Current Situation

Total Personnel180Size1,008 AcresPercent of Perimeter Contained30%Estimated Containment DateWednesday June 01st, 2016 approx. 12:00 AMFuels InvolvedTimber (Grass and Understory)

Outlook

Planned ActionsSecure, anchor, and continue to secure flanks, using aircraft to cool ahead of crews.Projected Incident ActivityWhen wind speed increasing, fire activity is also likely to increase with the potential to make a run to the east northeast.

Current Weather

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Updates on the wildfire can be found here.

Rain on Monday

A low pressure system moves toward us tonight and Monday, spreading showers and thunderstorms across Minnesota:

rt522allfronts

Western Minnesota could see some showers and thunderstorms tonight. All of Minnesota will see some periods of showers and thunderstorms on Monday and Monday night.

A few of the thunderstorms could be severe. The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a slight risk of severe weather Monday and Monday night for most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin:

rt523svr2
NWS Storm Prediction Center

The best chance of severe weather in the Twin Cities would tend to be later Monday afternoon and Monday evening, but be alert to forecast updates.

Rain at times through the coming week

Our weather will remain unsettled throughout the coming week, with at least a chance of showers and thunderstorms each day.  We could see widespread showers and thunderstorms Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Much of Minnesota could use the rain. In the Twin Cities, we haven't seen any rain since May 13th. Today is our ninth consecutive dry day!

I hope that you enjoy this pleasant Sunday!