Windy weather continues tonight and Friday; mainly dry and mild this weekend; turning colder next week

*A few isolated showers will continue over far northeast Minnesota and along the South Shore of Lake Superior in northwest Wisconsin this evening, otherwise tonight will be a cool, breezy and mostly clear night across the Northland with lows in the 40s, but a few of the traditional cold spots could dip into the 30s. Northwest winds 15 to 30 mph this evening shifting to west-southwest later tonight.

*There could be a few showers in the Northland on Friday due to lingering effects of today’s system and also due to a fast moving disturbance embedded in a NW flow aloft, but I think most of us will stay dry on Friday. Highs will mainly be in the 60s, with an isolated near 70 degree temperature possible. Winds will be westerly at 10 to 20 mph with occasional higher gusts.

*Labor Day weekend is looking pretty nice around here. Saturday looks dry with highs in the mid 60s to mid 70s, and Sunday’s highs should be similar to what we see for Saturday. A few showers are possible in parts of the area on Sunday, especially later in the day or Sunday night, but it doesn’t appear that will be dealing with any widespread or all days rains in northeast Minnesota or northwest Wisconsin Saturday or Sunday.

A powerful fall-like storm impacted the Northland and Lake Superior today bringing high winds and scattered power outages to the area along with some rain showers, while near hurricane force wind gusts and large waves battered portions of Lake Superior today.

Check out some of these wind reports on Lake Superior from Thursday, September 3rd, 2020

Passage Island Lighthouse: 71 MPH

Stannard Rock: 71 MPH

Near Big Bay: 70 MPH

Source: Goes-16 water vapor loop from Thursday, September 3, 2020 (loop time 8 AM to 4 PM CDT) https://weather.cod.edu/

Here’s a look at how today’s storm looked on Goes-16 visible imagery as a strong 980s millibar low pressure system passed north of Lake Superior today.

(Loop time 10 AM to 4 PM CDT, Thursday, September 3, 2020)

A taste of fall weather today across the Northland while summer is hanging on across the western and southern US. A strong jet stream separates the cool air from the hot air.

Source: RAP model; https://www.spc.noaa.gov/

Next week still looks chilly as a major pattern change occurs. There continues to be a chance that parts of the Northland will see their first frost and or freeze of the season sometime around September 8th-10th.

Source: 12z European ensemble model 9.3.2020; https://weathermodels.com/

A wet weather pattern may set up across portions of the Midwest next week, but it looks like most of the heavier rain would remain SE of the Northland, although we could see some rain at times in our area from late Sunday to Tuesday the way it looks now.

Source: https://lab.weathermodels.com/

A powerful cold front (Blue Norther) is forecast to push rapidly toward the south from the northern Rockies to the Central and Southern Plains early next week – Check out what this front may do to temperatures in the Plains early next week. A taste of what’s to come this winter? We shall see…

Source: 12z Canadian model 9.3.2020; https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/

Not only does it turn much colder early next week, there is also a possibility for some snow over the Rockies, possibly reaching as far south as New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle around the middle of next week, incredible!

Note: The earliest snowfall of at least 0.1″ on record at Amarillo, Texas is September 29th set in 1984 (snow records for Amarillo date back to 1931) The average date for first snowfall of at least 0.1″ in Amarillo is November 24th. So we could see some records shatter either for earliest snowfall or for cold temperatures during the early to middle part of next week across parts of the Rockies and Plains. Stay tuned.

By the way, the Canadian model isn’t alone with its snowfall potential next week as it has support from the European and its Ensemble model as well.

Thanks for reading!

Tim