Storms have consistently passed off south of Minnesota (ever since February), with just a couple of exceptions. That has placed Minnesota on the cool, rainy, stable (quiet) northern side of the storm track. Iowa, Missouri and Illinois have been blitzed with severe storms, but we've been relatively lucky, sitting up here in Minnesota watching a steady parade of crazy storms passing off a few hundred miles to our south. We've been lucky, but at some point the law of averages will catch up with us - the storm track will shift NORTH of Minnesota, putting us on the warm, humid, unstable southern side of the jet stream.
Could Be Worse. Griping about the rain, the wind, the cold? Be glad you're not stuck in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A Winter Weather Advisory is posted for 3-6" of snow, enough to shovel and plow. Insert gasp here. Photo courtesy of Kory Hartman at Severe Studios.
Wind Outlook. Friday looks like the breeziest day in sight, winds easing up over the weekend, blowing from the south at 8-13 mph, a little chop on area lakes - not nearly as windy as recent weeks. Good timing.What a shock: it's raining again. Another third of an inch of rain will fall before the showers begin to wind down later today. The good news: your PM commute will be a little easier than your AM commute was, rain tapers to showers - you SHOULD be able to get that little league practice in by late afternoon or evening, highs topping 50 (hallelujah!) Skies may brighten up a little later this afternoon, not a great day, but an improvement over Tuesday & Wednesday for sure. By Friday spring returns to Minnesota, enough sun for 60s - where we should be in mid May.
Sunny Saturday. A weak bubble of high pressure straddling Minnesota and Wisconsin will keep skies blue most of the day Saturday, a light south breeze at 8-13 mph, a slowly falling barometer (increasing the odds of catching big fish - at least in theory).Fishing Opener Outlook? All things considered, not bad at all. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination (we will see patchy clouds Sunday, even a passing shower or T-shower or two, maybe 30-90 minutes of rain, best chance early morning, another round of pop-up instability T-showers by late afternoon). Saturday still looks like the nicer, sunnier, drier day of the weekend, enough sun for 70-73 on 'Tonka and White Bear Lake, readings holding in the mid to upper 60s on your favorite northern lake, enough sun for a respectable tan (or burn). Expect a light southerly breeze (8-13 mph), a slight "walleye chop", and a slowly falling barometer, which may be conducive to catching big fish. We'll see, but right now I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll salvage a pretty nice Saturday, spring the way it was meant to be in mid May.
Unsettled Sunday. Moisture begins to stream into Minnesota Sunday, fueling a few widely scattered T-showers, the best chance early morning and again late afternoon. MOST of Sunday should be dry, highs in the low 70s (southern lakes) to mid 60s (far northern lakes).Count on a warming trend spilling over into next week, highs well up in the 70s, a nagging swirl of unusually cold air aloft sparking a few stray PM T-showers late Monday, again late Tuesday, although at any given time less than 10-20% of the state will be seeing rain.
Tornado On a Blackberry. A reporter at Channel 5, KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City, was stuck in traffic, shooting video on her Blackberry (bad idea) when a tornado crossed the road directly in front of her. Please don't try this at home. The video clip is here.
Oil Spill Fly-Over. WKRG-TV took a reporter out on a chopper to see the extent of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - miles and miles of "sweet" crude, as far as the eye can see. Unbelievable. The YouTube clip is here. More details on the state of the spill are here.
Liquid Mountaineering. Walking on Water. Right. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, it's catching on across Scandinavia. Click here to see some eye-opening examples of "liquid mountaineering."
Paul's SC Times Outlook for St. Cloud and all of central Minnesota
Today: Rain tapers to showers - skies brighten later today. Winds: W 10-20. High: 56
Tonight: Patchy clouds. Low: 45
Tomorrow: Plenty of sun, breezy and mild. High: 65
Saturday: Probably the nicer day of the weekend. Partly sunny and mild. Winds: S 8-13. High: 72
Sunday: Intervals of sun, a passing shower or T-shower. High: 71
Monday: Unsettled, another passing T-shower possible. High: 74
Tuesday: A mix of clouds and sun, isolated T-shower. High: 77
Wednesday: Partly sunny and warm, more typical of mid May. High: 75
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