Instant September; Noisy cold front brings storms & wind damage

93 degrees at MSP Airport Sunday

5th day at or above 90 degrees so far in 2012 (June 10th)

July 1st - 5th day of 90 degree heat in MSP last year

+6.7 degrees vs. average at MSP so far in June

13th straight month of above average temps

Wind damage in the metro Sunday night - numerous trees down

Instant September: Much drier and cooler early this week

Source: Twin Cities NWS

Noisy cold front: Storms & damage Sunday night

Sunday night's cold front left a mark on Minnesota that included a lot of lightning, thunder, heavy rain and wind.

Numerous reports of wind damage poured into the Twin Cities NWS. High winds downed many trees around the metro in Excelsior, Lakeville, Burnsville. The highest concentration of damage appears to be in Highland Park in St. Paul, where numerous trees snapped and fell on fences, cars and clogged streets.

Source: Twin Cities NWS

Check out these photos from Bill Stein, a HP resident who snapped these early Monday morning in and around Highland Park.

Tree down on Prius in Highland Park

Photo by Bill Stein

Photo by Bill Stein

Tree vs. fence

Photo by Bill Stein

You can see Bill's write up on his "Minnesota Forecaster" web page.

Bill reports most of the trees fell in a uniform line from southwest to northeast, which suggests straight line wind damage. Circular "tornadic" winds usually cause damage patterns pointing in several different directions.

Instant September: Free AC

The cold front brings temps 15 to 20 degrees cooler today & Tuesday. After 3 consecutive days of 90 degree heat in the metro, temps in the 70s south and 60s north will feel like September. At least you can give your AC a rest for a while this week.

Source: NWS

I can't rule out some lows in the 30s and spotty frost in northern Minnesota Tuesday morning!

Dew points crash too:

Dew points (briefly) peaked at 67 degrees Sunday in the metro. The deep tropical dew points in the 70s some of the models advertised last week never made it to Minnesota.

Still the air mass working into Minnesota is much drier early this week. Dew points will dive into the 40s and even upper 30s in Minnesota by Tuesday.

Source: ISU

Much needed rainfall:

The storms dumped rainfall totals near or over 1" in many locations around the metro last night.

Rainfall totals over 1" from last night in yellow

Source: WxUnderground

"Bermuda High" setting up this weekend?

Forecast models are advertising a developing "Bermuda High" in the Upper Midwest this weekend.

The high pressure center should develop Friday between MSP and Chicago, and build Saturday & Sunday.

The means a return to heat and humidity by the weekend.

Storms may fire around the periphery of the high by Sunday. That could mean a repeat of last weekend and another thundery close to next weekend.

Enjoy the cooler breezes today!

PH