The Northland remains under an upper-level ridge, keeping conditions dry, while more unsettled weather is found near two troughs—one to the west and the other to the east.
…Birch Bay Fire…
5:29 PM Monday 6/1/2026: The fire covers 25 acres.
4:48 PM Monday 6/1/2026: This afternoon, a new fire broke out in the Superior National Forest, northwest of the North Arm of Burntside Lake, about 8 miles from Ely, Minnesota. Multiple engines, crews, and water-dropping aircraft are on the scene responding.
Note: The earliest chance of rain over this fire could be Wednesday night or Thursday, but at the moment it doesn’t seem like we’ll see much rain here through the weekend.
Highs will stay in the 70s and 80s across the Northland from Tuesday through Thursday, with cooler temps lingering near Lake Superior, especially on Tuesday. By Wednesday and Thursday, stronger S-SW winds could push the warmer air closer to the lake. We’ll see.
The smoke plume from the Birch Bay Fire has been visible on GOES-19 imagery this afternoon.
Over the last 24 hours, rain has mostly soaked western, central, and southern Minnesota, with a clear dividing line from wet to dry running from around Brainerd to Rush City. North of that line, it’s stayed completely dry.
A cold front will move east from the northern Plains later this week, bringing in more moisture with dew points around 60-65. Combined with some lift from the front, this could lead to isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms in parts of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin on Thursday. However, recent model trends suggest less rain for our area with this front.
Through Wednesday evening, most of the rain will remain west of our area, affecting the eastern Dakotas and the northwest and western parts of Minnesota, where scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected.
In Duluth, the last quarter inch of rain fell on May 19, nearly two weeks ago.
Since May 1, our rainfall patterns have been all over the place—starting off dry, turning wetter in the middle of the month, and now shifting back to a dry spell.
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