Fire weather concerns continue through this evening across the Northland due to gusty winds and low relative humidity values, and with no soaking rains expected through at least early next week we may be dealing with more fire weather issues over the next few days as we await the spring green-up which is occurring, albeit slowly across the area.
***Record Low Temperature broken this morning at International Falls, Minnesota***
New record low for May 6th: 22 degrees, the old record low for May 6th was 23 degrees set in 1976.
No changes to the weather pattern through early next week as the Northland will remain in a cool N to NW flow aloft thanks to a mid and upper level low pressure system which will remain nearly stationary near Hudson Bay Canada over the next few days.
- A few passing showers or sprinkles will continue to move SE through the Northland this evening, otherwise it looks mostly dry Friday, Saturday and Sunday with daytime highs ranging from around 46 to 57 degrees all three days, with a few 60 degree temps possible Saturday and Sunday.
- Winds will be shifting to the east this weekend so temperatures will be cooler near Lake Superior, especially on Sunday (highs in the 40s)
The radar looks pretty active late this afternoon, but a lot of what is showing up on radar is virga or rain that isn’t reaching the ground, but a few of these showers could reach the ground through this evening as they move southeast across the Northland, but overall don’t expect a whole lot of rain with this activity.
Normal highs in Duluth from May 7th to May 16th are in the lower 60s, normal lows are right around 40 degrees, so as you can see by the temperature forecast below, our temperatures will remain below normal into early next week, followed by more seasonable temperatures for the middle/end of next week the way it looks now, but of course any day that has a lake breeze will lead to much cooler temperatures near Lake Superior through May 16th.
The recent wet weather across northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin has erased the drought we had going into spring 2021 with all of the Northland now drought free as of May 4th, 2021.
The same can’t be said for much of North Dakota into northern South Dakota (red area on map) where Extreme Drought (D3) persists.
- 16% of Minnesota is in D1 or Moderate Drought (light orange areas on map) this is down from 24% three months ago.
- 37% of Minnesota is Abnormally Dry (yellow areas on map) this is down from 100% three months ago.
- Drought conditions have been worsening lately in southern and central parts of Wisconsin with 26% of the state in D1 or Moderate Drought, this is up from just 0.01% three months ago.
Tim
