On pace for wettest year on record, Florida hurricane watch
It's not your imagination. It's been really, really wet this year in Minnesota.
As of today, the Twin Cities is on pace for the wettest year on record. Our 17.06 inches of annual precipitation at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport so far is slightly ahead of where 1911 was at this date.
I can't remember a year quite like this when it comes to excessive rainfall events in Minnesota. I've literally lost count of the number of days with multi-inch rainfall totals like we saw again in the past 24 hours. Milaca and St. Cloud are just the latest towns to get swamped by the latest 4-plus inches deluge.
As I wrote this morning, it looks like this meteorological summer (Jun-Aug) will go down as one of the top 10 wettest in the Twin Cities when the final numbers come in this week.
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Red River Valley tornadoes
Tornadic supercells accompanied the heavy rain events that rolled through the Red River Valley this week.
The Grand Forks, N.D., National Weather Service office has details on the nasty tornadic hook echo that spun through northwest Minnesota.
Welcome dry spell ahead
This week's forecast is just what the weather doctor ordered for storm weary Minnesotans. The southerly lobe of blissfully sunny Canadian high pressure centered near James Bay exerts enough southward influence to keep our skies dry the rest of the week. My sump pump need the rest.
This is the weather pattern Minnesota is famous for as we turn the page into September. Really Minnesota, does it get any better than this?
Hurricane watch posted for Florida
The long watched pot that is TD No. 9 looks ready to boil over. I'm seeing some spin now on the satellite loops west of Cuba that is likely to become the clear circulation center for what will probably become Tropical Storm Hermine in the next few hours.
In anticipation of continued development, NOAA's National Hurricane Center has posted hurricane watches for Florida's Gulf Coast.
URGENT - MARINE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
635 PM EDT TUE AUG 30 2016
...HURRICANE WATCH IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF THE COASTAL WATERS OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND BIG BEND FOR POSSIBLE HURRICANE CONDITIONS...
...TROPICAL STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FOR THE NEARSHORE COASTAL WATERS OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE FOR POSSIBLE TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS...
635 PM EDT TUE AUG 30 2016
...HURRICANE WATCH IN EFFECT...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE HAS ISSUED A HURRICANE WATCH. THE TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* WINDS...45 TO 55 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO HURRICANE FORCE POSSIBLE.
* SEAS..8 TO 12 FEET NEAR SHORE AND 20 TO 25 FEET OFFSHORE.
* TIMING...WINDS INCREASING TO TROPICAL STORM FORCE LATE WEDNESDAY OR EARLY THURSDAY.
The latest track models still favor a landfall in Florida's big bed zone Thursday. Tamps looks to ride the edge of the highest winds and surge, but could see heavy rainfall totals between 5 and 10-plus inches.
Stay tuned. This will be a very different looking storm Wednesday.