Another warm afternoon is on the way for Wednesday with widespread 60s to lower 70s across northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. Overall there isn’t a whole lot of change in the weather pattern, with similar 850mb temps on Wednesday from what we had on Tuesday, perhaps 1 or 2 degrees cooler than Tuesday, but still very warm for early November, ranging from around +13 to +15C, so as long as we get enough mixing, and enough sunshine, I don’t see any reason why Wednesday’s highs won’t be similar to what we saw on Tuesday.
Thursday features a slightly cooler air mass thanks to a dry cold frontal passage which occurs Wednesday night, but we’re still looking at highs in the 50s to lower 60s on Thursday.
Warmth rebuilds Friday into the weekend with widespread 60s and some 70s looking likely.
| Record High Temperatures set or tied across the Northland today, November 3rd, 2020. Ashland, Wisconsin New record: 75 F Old record: 74 F set in 1978 International Falls, Minnesota New record: 70 F Old record: 66 F set in 1978, tied in 2008 Brainerd, Minnesota Record high temperature of 72 degrees for November 3rd tied today. The previous record was set in 1965. Hibbing, Minnesota Record high temperature of 70 degrees for November 3rd tied today. The previous record was set in 1978. Note: Duluth Airport hit 70 degrees today, November 3rd, 2020 – Not a record for the date which is 73 degrees set in 1903. But, today’s high of 70 is nearly 30 degrees above the normal high of 43 on November 3rd. Not sure if we’ve seen the last 70 degree temperature of 2020 in Duluth today, but regardless the mean date for last 70 degree temperature in Duluth is October 9th, so we’re roughly 4 weeks later than usual. Last year’s last 70 degree temp came on October 9th. The latest last 70 on record for Duluth is November 9th which occurred in 1999. |
| More record or near record warmth is possible across the Northland on Wednesday – Here are the record highs for November 4th. Ashland, WI: 74 degrees set in 1975 Brainerd, MN: 73 degrees set in 1975 Hibbing, MN: 71 degrees set in 1975 Duluth, MN: 69 degrees set in 1975, tied in 2016 International Falls, MN: 67 degrees set in 1975 |
A large and massive upper level ridge covered most of the U.S. today. This ridge means business, something more typical of July, not November.
Source: https://weather.cod.edu/
There is a pool of arctic air, however, check out the temperatures in Alaska, east into the Yukon area this afternoon. Eventually some of this cold air could work its way SE into parts of the Rockies or Northern Plains, but there are plenty of question marks on how the pattern will setup next week, and if any cold air will be able to sustain itself, or does it just get pushed back north into Canada later next week.
Stay tuned
There continues to be at least some risk for a stronger storm to develop sometime next week given the overall pattern, but it’s too soon to tell if it would even impact the Northland, and if it did, would it be rain or snow, and when would it affect us? Lots to sort out in coming days.
Thanks for reading!
Tim
