The longest days: Summer solstice time arrives
The longest days
These are the days many Minnesotans long for all year. Sun-splashed skies. Long evening twilight. Warm sun and the occasional welcome downpour.
Welcome to summer solstice weekend in Minnesota.
The summer solstice occurs Monday June 20th at 5:34 pm.
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Daylight now is well over 15 hours. Throw in twilight and you've got about 17 hours of "light" in Minnesota in the next week. Reason to celebrate in my book.
Our northern location and the axial tilt of our planet produces long daylight at northern latitudes this time of year. The Arctic is now the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Stormy north and west
The southeast half of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest basks in the western edge of sunny dry high pressure the next few days. A sluggish front to the west produces periods of scattered rain and thunder over the Red River Valley and northern Minnesota into the weekend.
NOAA's NAM 4 km resolution model does a nice job of capturing the notion of a few waves of storms blowing up in the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota. The storms likely fade as they run into a more stable air mass while making attempted runs toward the Twin Cities the next few days.
The best chance for another soaking T-Storm favors the northwest half of Minnesota into Saturday.
Here's the quick look Twin Cities forecast into the weekend. A probably dry Saturday for Rock The Garden? It's looking more likely. The best chance for scattered T-Storms in the metro arrives late on a steamy Father's Day.
Southwest heat
Heat builds in the southwest USA over the next few days. The northern fringes of that heat dome nudge Minnesota this weekend. By Sunday, metro bank thermometers flash 90 degrees. It may get close to 100 in southwest Minnesota (again) Sunday afternoon.
We're getting off easy. Some all-time record highs could be challenged in the Arizona deserts this weekend. 119 is a dry heat? So is my oven. I've lived in 110F plus, and it's no joke.
I'm counting our weather blessings these days.