Sticky and stormy: Tropical air mass returns; occasional weekend thunderstorms
Welcome to New Orleans.
A tropical air mass has oozed back into our region. It's like walking into a car wash out there in Minnesota. And the dew point climb has been remarkably steep. The dew point at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was a comfy 50 degrees at 1 p.m. Thursday. Friday afternoon, the dew point soared to 71 degrees at MSP. That's a tropical air mass.
Fuel for storms
The higher dew points are fuel for occasional thunderstorms this weekend. Scattered thunderstorms will fade as they move east across Minnesota Friday night. We may see another sunrise surprise Saturday morning, and scattered thunderstorms are likely through midday Saturday.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's NAM 3 km resolution model paints scattered storm coverage trends from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon.
Loose weather change
Our sunrise storms Friday produced mostly nickel- and dime-sized hail across the Twin Cities.
Mostly 80s
A hockey friend of mine just returned from a trip with a layover in Abu Dhabi. He described walking out of the aircraft into a curtain of heat and humidity that instantly fogged up his glasses.
It won't get that intensely sticky here, but we'll stay in the humid 80s for the foreseeable future.
Heat still lurking
The upper-air maps continue to suggest a building heat dome into the Upper Midwest as we move deeper into August.
We don't take the day to day variations in the longer range output from NOAA's Global Forecast System model as gospel, but it usually does a good job with trends. The notion of adding 3 to 5 more 90 degree days in the next two to three weeks still seems reasonable.
Stay tuned and stay cool.