Raw rainy Friday; spring returns for Mother’s Day
Our next rain wave arrives Friday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System model is representative of many models that develop rain Monday morning across southern Minnesota.
Southern soaker
The Twin Cities rides the northern edge of Friday's rain system. I expect less than half an inch in the Twin Cities. But rainfall totals over an inch are likely once again in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.
Dry up north
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Friday's weather system will miss most of central and northern Minnesota. Much of northern Minnesota is trending dry.
Taste of summer next week
Sunshine and highs in the 70s return for Mother's Day. Highs push 80 again next week as another June-like air mass blows in. We deserve it.
Rapidly warming soils
It's amazing just how much soil temperatures across Minnesota have warmed in the past 3 weeks. The Twin Cities National Weather Service office has a nice graphic.
Send up a flare
Or a weather balloon. The data collected by twice-daily weather balloon launches is critical input for numerical weather prediction models. Thanks to those at local NWS offices who send them skyward, regardless of weather at launch.
Why it's raining harder
Warmer atmosphere = more evaporation from oceans = heavier rains? Here's the latest from the American Geophysical Union.
Hurricane forecasts improving
The five-day track forecast is now as good as the three-day forecast from 10 years ago. That's a major weather forecasting success story.
California mandates solar on new homes
The story from Fortune:
California is about to become the first state in the U.S.—and possibly the first government in the world—to require solar power installations on all new homes.
The California Energy Commission will hold a vote on Wednesday, May 9, on whether to put the new standard into effect. If passed, which is expected, the solar mandate would apply to all homes, condos, and apartment buildings up to three stories high as of January 1, 2020, with exceptions for structures built in the shade and offsets available for other energy-saving measures, such as installing batteries like the Tesla Powerwall.
At present, only 15 to 20% of new single-family homes in the state include solar installations. The mandate would make it $25,000 to $30,000 more expensive to build new homes than those built to the current code, established in 2006. But experts say that extra cost, which accounts for both solar installation and improved insulation, would be recouped over the life of the home in savings on energy bills. Owners are expected to save $50,000 to $60,000 in operating costs over 25 years. Officials say this plan would do one better than the goal of net-zero energy.