Frost advisories north, science wins at Weather Channel
It's back!
The season's first frost advisories are flying for the Red River Valley and northwest Minnesota into Friday morning.
The season's coolest air mass to date slides south Friday. Temperatures in the 30s and low 40s blanket northern Minnesota Friday morning.
The Twin Cities bottoms out around 50 degrees in the urban heat island Friday morning, with the suburbs touching the upper 40s.
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If MSP Airport manages to touch 50 degrees Friday morning, it will be the coolest temperature since May 31 when the mercury bottomed out at 44 degrees. It's going to be a close call. Either way crank the windows open and enjoy some good sleeping weather the next few days.
Here's a more detailed breakdown of the forecast into next week. A crisp sunny Friday gives way to a gradual warming trend with some increasing humidity into next week. This weekend will be nothing short of spectacular.
Fall color splashes
You can see it in the trees. Splashes of fall color are here. In the next few weeks, our landscape gradually turns vibrant yellow, orange and red. Here's Thursday's updated fall color report from the Minnesota DNR. Frosty weekend temperatures up north will only help accelerate the color change.
Science nerds win at Weather Channel
Many of us in the weather biz were stunned at how the Weather Channel evolved into a reality TV disaster over the past few years. This week the Weather Channel announced major programming changes that bring TWC's programming focus squarely back onto weather science. A Weather Channel focused on weather science content? What a concept.
Capital Weather Gang's Jason Samenow has more.
The Weather Channel, which has seen its value decline over the last year, announced major cuts to programming and talent Wednesday. But the dramatic changes, including the phase out of non-weather reality shows, signify the network’s return to its weather-first roots and may delight the average weather enthusiast.
In a memo to staff, Dave Shull, president of The Weather Channel’s (TWC) television group, listed first “migrating away from non-weather original programming” among sweeping changes in the pipeline for the Atlanta network. Non-weather programming, including shows such as “Fat Guys in the Woods,” has been attacked by critics who say TWC has strayed from what it does best.
Not only have casual weather enthusiasts lamented TWC’s shift to such “weather adjacent” programming. Carriage providers such as Dish, DirectTV and Verizon have also leveraged TWC’s seeming identity crisis during contract disputes to justify carrying alternative providers, such as Weather Nation and AccuWeather, which focus on weather. Verizon dropped TWC in March.
“We will continue to invest in finding creative ways to explain the weather, but we will no longer greenlight any long-form shows,” Shull said in the memo. “Our most passionate fans come to us for the weather and the science behind the weather, not our original shows.”
As part of the shift toward weather-focused programming, Shull announced TWC, effective Nov. 2, will re-work its morning show AMHQ, anchored by Sam Champion, which has served as a blend of weather and other news 7 to 10 a.m. weekdays and 5 to 9 a.m. weekends. The show will have more of a weather emphasis and Champion will no longer host.
Weather nerds rule.