May Monsoon: Rapidly rising rivers & lakes; Drier into next week?
11"+ May rainfall at Forest Lake & Chanhassen in the metro
10.54" May rainfall at Pipestone, MN
9.34" May rainfall at MSP Airport
Wettest May on record at several Minnesota locations
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2nd wettest May at MSP Airport & St. Cloud (8.76")
6th wettest May at Duluth (6.69")
5.59" rainfall in the past week at Aitkin
1 foot - Lake Minnetonka up nearly 1 foot in May
Rising rivers Rapid rises on Minnesota rivers & streams
89% of Minnesota soil moisture rated "adequate to surplus"
.38" GFS rainfall total next 16 days - drying out again?
Quick Look Forecast: Drier days ahead (Click image to enlarge)
Source: Twin Cities NWS
"Maysoon"
Our May Monsoon appears ot be coming to an end.
Record rains over 11" have doused the drought in most of Minnesota this month. That's a remarkable turnaround, over 90% of Minnesota was in drought at one point this spring.
These rains have been notable in that the coverage has been widespread.
The Minnesota Climate Working Group has details:
Wet May 2012
May 2012 is going down in the record books as one of the wettest Mays on record for some places in central and northeast Minnesota. One of the highest May 2012 monthly rainfall totals found in the state so far is 11.29 inches at Forest Lake. Chanhassen isn't too far behind at 11.19 inches. Pipestone has 10.54 inches so far for May.
As of May 29, May 2012 is the second wettest May on record for both the Twin Cities and St. Cloud, and the sixth wettest in Duluth. The May records for all three cities are: 10.33 inches in May 1906 for the Twin Cities, 9.68 inches in May 1912 for St. Cloud and 7.99 in May 1879 for Duluth.
The Twin Cities International Airport has 9.34 inches so far in May 2012. Not only is this the second wettest May back to 1871, it is the eighth wettest month on record for any month of the year. The record for the wettest month of the year in the Twin Cities is 17.90 inches in July 1987. Normal May precipitation for the Twin Cities is 3.36 inches.
Not every site in Minnesota has seen the abundant rainfall. Precipitation totals in northwest Minnesota for May are below normal. For instance, Crookston in Northwest Minnesota has seen only 1.38 inches of rainfall for the month which is 1.29 inches below normal.
Normal precipitation for May in Minnesota ranges from around two inches in the far northwest, to around three-and-a-half inches in the southeast.
The rain has eased the drought situation across central and south central Minnesota, as well as the arrowhead. Where the heavy rains fell, rivers were on the increase and during the month of May the level of Lake Minnetonka rose about 1 foot. Basswood Lake along the Canadian border in Lake County rose four inches during the third week in May.
Rivers are on the rise as well, with some reaching minor flood stage, such as the South Fork Crow River near Mayer. The St. Croix River at Stillwater rose seven feet from May 24 to May 29.
Lake Minnetonka has responded with a 1 foot rise in May, and over 1 foot since mid-April.
Source: Minnehaha Creek Watershed District
Many Rivers have risen 3 to 7 feet in the past few days. You can see the latest river levels around Minnesota here.
The St. Croix is up 5 feet at St. Croix Falls in recent days.
Source: NOAA/NWS
Today's Minnesota Crop Report shows 89% of Minnesota soils now show "adequate to surplus" topsoil moisture!
Source: Minnesota Crop Report
Drying out?
It looks like somebody found the rain spigot, and finally turned it off.
The overall weather pattern looks much drier in the next week. The GFS is printing out under .25" for the metro into next week. The latest GFS runs pulled back on what looked like a potentially rainy start to next week in favor of high pressure holding a dry sky over Minnesota. We'll see.
Source: Iowa State University-Ames
The good news is we don't need any more rain in the short run, and it looks like drier skies will prevail into next week. Your lawn, farm field and garden will get a chance to dry out a bit.
Source: ISU
Enjoy our gradual warm up into the 70s by Friday, and into the weekend!
PH