Paul Douglas Weather Column: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Todd's Conservation MN Outlook for the Twin Cities and all of Minnesota:

MONDAY: Sun returns (naturally), turning less humid. High: 68 Winds: WNW 5-10mph

MONDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy, keep the windows open. Low: 47

TUESDAY: Cooler with Morning sun and an afternoon shower. Not severe. High: near 58

WEDNESDAY: Bright sun, less wind. Much better. Low: 43. High: 66

THURSDAY: Perfect spring day. Sunny and milder. Low: 48. High: 70

FRIDAY: Unsettled. Few PM T-storms. Low: 52. High: 68

SATURDAY (MN FISHING OPENER): Sunny and seasonably mild. A dry Saturday? Looks like it
right now. Winds: W 10. Low: 50. High: 69

MOTHER'S DAY: Blue sky, a few degrees warmer. Low: 50. High: 73

Too Much of a Good Thing?

I snapped this picture Sunday morning of standing water in a farmer's field. Interesting how we can be so dry, then so wet in a matter of days. Several rounds of heavy rain has many smaller bodies of water, open fields and low lying areas filled with water. It's good to see, but we sure a running into rotten luck with the weekend weather.

Heavy Rain Overnight

This is a look at RadarScope Storm Total Rainfall from yesterday and overnight, which shows anywhere from 1" to 5" of rain across the area. The heaviest was out west near Willmar down to Marshall, where nearly 4" to 6" fell... Flood Warnings go into effect this week for the Redwood and the Cotonwood Rivers as the swell to minor flood stage.

Heavy Rain Reports

NWS Radar Estimated Rainfall Over the Weekend

This is quiet impressive, note the deep reds (3.0"+) across much of the southern half of the state, especially across the southwestern corner of the state.

See more from the NWS HERE

American Gold Finch

Nice to see these little guys at the bird feeder again!

Stormy Supermoon

I snapped this picture Thursday evening the near supermoon rose in the eastern sky with thunderstorms across parts of Southeastern Minnesota.

MCS Fest

Mesoscale Convective systems typically form summer when heat and humidity are high. Several of these MCS's have been developing on the outer edge of the extreme heat and humidity, which has been sitting to our south. These storm complexes generally form in the late afternoon/evening and continue all night. One of the more interesing MCS's (Derecho) that pushed through Minnesota was the Boundary Waters Blowdown in early July of 1999, read more HERE

Within these MCS's, small areas of low pressure develop, called meso-lows. These small areas of circulation (range from the size of a thunderstorms to several to many tens of miles) are typically are associated with a long-live squall line with damaging winds. I captured two meso-lows this weekend, here is one from from Saturday that tracked across southern Minnesota and was responsible for tornado reports near Lakefield, Worthington and Kiester MN before it became more of a squall line producing more wind damage. Note the circular shape to the radar signature below, it almost looks like an inland hurricane, doesn't it? That's the result of the strong counter-clockwise spin associated with the meso-low.

Storm Reports From Friday

The complex of storms was also responsible for several storm reports, see more HERE:

Another Meso-Low on Saturday

This is the other complex of storms that pushed through on Saturday that produced a meso-low. It's harder to see the circulation, but it's there, the surface map below the radar shows the small area of circulation.

Surface Map on Saturday around 3pm

Not long after the radar capture above, you can see the small circulation in the wind field moving into west-central Wisconsin. The MSP also reported a sharp pressure drop and rise in a short period of time as the low moved through the Twin Cities... Neat huh!?!

Recent Heavy Expected to Help Drought

This was the US Drought Monitor last Thursday, before all the heavy rain came through. I expect a marked improvement across southern Minnesota before the next updated on Thursday, May 10th.

Paul Douglas' Blog Entry

Light Switch Spring

No, you're not imagining it. This isn't your grandfather's weather anymore. Call it Weather 2.0. Increasingly weather patterns are getting "stuck". Heat is either on or off. The same with moisture: drought or flood. Why? The Arctic is warming twice as fast as Minnesota. That may be affecting the north-south temperature gradient, slowing jet stream winds by 14 percent, accelerating heat, drought and stalling storms, meaning more floods.

Friday and Saturday waves of low pressure rippled along a stalled front, resulting in some 2-5 inch amounts, putting a serious dent in our drought. 2.31 inches of rain fell Sunday morning; over 5" of badly needed rain the first 6 days of May. At this rate lake water levels may come up a bit.

No big storms in sight; a PM shower tomorrow - a clap of thunder Friday.

Miraculously, Fishing Opener weather looks stunning: 60s north, near 70 metro; low 70s on Mother's Day with blue sky and chirping robins. I don't blame you for being skeptical. So am I.

No sign of a Canadian relapse either - 60s and 70s into late May. A rare Sunshine Alert is now in effect. Please proceed outside. Sunscreen advised. Remember not to stare at the sun. Good luck.

Contrail Disruption

Thanks to my good friend, Rich Koivisto, from Duluth MN. He is still enjoying the Arizona heat and snapped this shot of jet contrails that were being disrupted by interesting winds aloft... kinda neat! Thanks Rich!

Here's Another, Near Supermoon

Upcoming Rain Chances

Chances are, you probably won't be needing any lawn waterings soon with the heavy rain, we've picked up recently, but there are still a couple of rain chances this week; Tuesday and Friday. Rainfall amounts through the week look much lighter than what we had over the weekend.

Minnesota Fishing Opener

At this point, the weather looks decent for the upcoming fishing opener, no deluges. In fact, there appears to be some sun with temperatures at or slightly above average!

See more about the MN fishing opener from the DNR HERE: