81 F. average high on June 28.
81 F. high on June 28, 2015.
June 29, 1969: Worthington picks up over 6 inches of rain in 24 hours.
June 29, 1930: Extreme heat develops in Minnesota. Canby got up to a sizzling 110 degrees.
September Breeze - Promising Holiday Outlook
"There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people" said Bill Bowerman.
True, Bill wasn't around on June 28, 1876: the latest ice breakup in history for Duluth on Lake Superior. He was a no-show in Canby, Minnesota back on June 29, 1930, when the air temperature reached 110F.
Only Siberia sees more wild swings in temperature and moisture than Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. Statistics that would make the local Chamber of Commerce proud.
I'm cautiously optimistic about the holiday weekend weather. After Thursday showers Friday looks sunny and comfortable as a fair-weather bubble of high pressure drifts over Minnesota. A return southeasterly wind on the backside of that retreating fair-weather-maker warms us up over the weekend. Models print out a few T-showers over the Red River Valley, but most towns (and lakes) stay dry Friday and Saturday, with crisp dew points typical of mid-September. Nights will be cool - take a sweatshirt. Low 80s return Sunday, maybe mid-80s for the 4th of July with a few atmospheric fireworks up north.
Not too shabby for summer's biggest bash!

* more details on the mPing project here.
Thunderstorm Phobia in Dogs. Psychology Today has more perspective: "...I do not believe that static shocks account for all the terrors of storm phobic dogs, but they do contribute. The sound of thunder is disturbing enough to some dogs on its own. Pure noise phobias do exist. Interestingly, noise phobias do not track precisely with storm phobia, though there is considerable overlap. Some dogs terrified of thunderstorms can tolerate the booming sounds of fireworks. For others, the sound of fireworks is their nemesis but they remain indifferent to thunder. Treatment of thunderstorm phobia in dogs entails training them to go to a safe place where they will be spared the full brunt of the sight and sounds of storms..."


Study Links 6.5 Million Deaths Each Year to Air Pollution. The New York Times reports: "A sobering report released on Monday by the International Energy Agency
says air pollution has become a major public health crisis leading to
around 6.5 million deaths each year, with “many of its root causes and
cures” found in the energy industry. The air pollution study is the
first for the agency, an energy security group based in Paris, which is
expanding its mission under its executive director, Fatih Birol..."
We Are At Risk of Loving Our National Parks To Death. Here's an excerpt of an Op-Ed from The Seattle Times Editorial Board: "...The parks have inspired a century of poetry and prose — including writer Wallace Stegner’s succinct comment that national parks are “the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.” Amid record attendance, the parks system is, conversely, also at peril for being taken for granted. The challenge of underfunding threatens the parks’ present while climate change threatens the parks’ future. Both demand attention and collaborative action at the local and federal level to ensure the wilderness gifts are multigenerational..."
Photo credit: "Lenticular or cap clouds form around Mount Rainier in February 2015." (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times).
Tesla and Solar City? Yes, It Makes Sense. Or At Least It Will. Here's a story excerpt from Dave Roberts at Vox: "...The batteries of individual EVs can also be aggregated together with thousands of others, via software, to serve as one big virtual mega-battery, providing a range of energy services to the grid. (The aggregator pays the owners of the individual batteries for their participation.) Now imagine a city-sized microgrid, connected to the larger regional grid but able to island itself if necessary. Imagine the role a fleet of self-driving electric vehicles could play in that grid, wirelessly exchanging power with the grid according to its minute-by-minute or second-by-second needs. The point of all this is, EVs will be connected to the grid..." (Photo credit: NY REV).
The World's Losers are Revolting, and Brexit Is Only The Beginning. Here's a clip from a Washington Post story: "...A
British exit, or Brexit, will make the country poorer in the short run,
perhaps in the long run too, and might drag the rest of Europe down
with it. That's because Britain is essentially ripping up its free trade
deal with the rest of Europe. But of far greater concern than
just dollars and cents is that this is the most significant setback in
Europe's 60-year quest for "ever closer union," and the most shocking
success for the new nationalism sweeping the Western world. Brexit, in
other words, is the end of the end of history..."

Did NASA Fake the Moon Landing?
Yes, you have the right to believe whatever nonsense you care to
believe, but that doesn't make it credible, factual or accurate. Here's
an excerpt of a gentle debunking of a favorite conspiracy theory (the
moon landings were faked!) at Quora: "...The
MLDs (Moon Landing Deniers) are not taking into account one very
important human tendency: the tendency to blab. The “moon landings”
happened nearly 50 years ago. Yet no one has come foward to collect a
million dollars from Oprah or whoever to blab the inside story of
Apollo. And show covert photos of Neil and Buzz sharing a laugh with
their helmets off on the “lunar surface” set. Is this conceivable? In 50
years!.."
File photo: NASA.
The Surprisingly Dark, Twisted History of Presidential Impersonators in America. The Washington Post has the video and story: "When
you think of presidential impersonators, you think funny, ha-ha,
frivolous. But the little-known history of presidential impersonation in
America is surprisingly dark and twisted. It’s filled with fascinating
instances in which the zany world of comedy collides in unpredictable
ways with the dead-serious power corridors of Washington. And if you
peer close enough into that past, you can see the history of us as a
country, and our complicated, often fraught relationship with the person
we choose every four years to rule over us as our leader.."
Image credit: "From
Vaughn Meader's President Kennedy to Jay Pharoah's President Obama, the
history of presidential impersonations is long and not all were success
stories." (Nicki DeMarco,William Wan/The Washington Post).
A Food Truck For Dogs? Yep, it's already happening in the hipster town of Seattle, Washington. Here's an excerpt of a story at Life With Dogs: "...The
Seattle Barkery is a new mobile café for dogs. Everything they make
and serve is aimed towards giving dogs a similar freedom of choice like
we as humans have. For their furry, four legged customers, they have
everything from bacon cupcakes and peanut butter pumpkin pretzels, to
chicken feet and duck necks..."
TODAY: Warm sun as clouds slowly increase. Winds: SE 7-12. High: 81
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Chance of a shower or T-shower. Low: 63
THURSDAY: More numerous showers, cooler. Winds: NW 8-13. High: 77
FRIDAY: Bright sun, low humidity. Spectacular! Winds: NW 3-8. Wake-up: 57. High: 75
SATURDAY: Partly sunny and breezy, still comfortable. Winds: SE 8-13. Wake-up: 58. High: 78
SUNDAY: Sticky sunshine, a bit warmer. Winds: SE 10-15. Wake-up: 62. High: 82
4TH OF JULY: Some sun, PM T-storms up north. Winds: S 8-13. Wake-up: 67. High: 86
TUESDAY: Steamy sun, pop-up T-storms. Winds: S 10-20. Wake-up: 68. High: near 90
THURSDAY: More numerous showers, cooler. Winds: NW 8-13. High: 77
FRIDAY: Bright sun, low humidity. Spectacular! Winds: NW 3-8. Wake-up: 57. High: 75
SATURDAY: Partly sunny and breezy, still comfortable. Winds: SE 8-13. Wake-up: 58. High: 78
SUNDAY: Sticky sunshine, a bit warmer. Winds: SE 10-15. Wake-up: 62. High: 82
4TH OF JULY: Some sun, PM T-storms up north. Winds: S 8-13. Wake-up: 67. High: 86
TUESDAY: Steamy sun, pop-up T-storms. Winds: S 10-20. Wake-up: 68. High: near 90
Climate Stories...
Photo credit: "Members of the group iMatter moved a Minneapolis suburb to adopt an aggressive climate change resolution."
File photo: "Flooding in Richwood, in Nicholas County."
British
climatologist Adam Scaife said 2016 temperatures are “obliterating”
past records. “The numbers are completely unprecedented.”
The Guardian added: “Another shattered record is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is on course to rise by a record amount this year.” It quoted a German scientist: “We know from Antarctic ice cores that go back almost a million years that CO2 was never even remotely as high as this.” The London paper added: “The rate at which humanity is emitting CO2 is the fastest for 66 million years.”
- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/gazette-editorials/20160628/gazette-mail-editorial-nature-ravages-as-weather-warms#sthash.4BxcoiuV.dpuf
The Guardian added: “Another shattered record is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is on course to rise by a record amount this year.” It quoted a German scientist: “We know from Antarctic ice cores that go back almost a million years that CO2 was never even remotely as high as this.” The London paper added: “The rate at which humanity is emitting CO2 is the fastest for 66 million years.”
- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/gazette-editorials/20160628/gazette-mail-editorial-nature-ravages-as-weather-warms#sthash.4BxcoiuV.dpuf
British
climatologist Adam Scaife said 2016 temperatures are “obliterating”
past records. “The numbers are completely unprecedented.”
The Guardian added: “Another shattered record is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is on course to rise by a record amount this year.” It quoted a German scientist: “We know from Antarctic ice cores that go back almost a million years that CO2 was never even remotely as high as this.” The London paper added: “The rate at which humanity is emitting CO2 is the fastest for 66 million years.”
- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/gazette-editorials/20160628/gazette-mail-editorial-nature-ravages-as-weather-warms#sthash.4BxcoiuV.dpuf
The Guardian added: “Another shattered record is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is on course to rise by a record amount this year.” It quoted a German scientist: “We know from Antarctic ice cores that go back almost a million years that CO2 was never even remotely as high as this.” The London paper added: “The rate at which humanity is emitting CO2 is the fastest for 66 million years.”
- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/gazette-editorials/20160628/gazette-mail-editorial-nature-ravages-as-weather-warms#sthash.4BxcoiuV.dpuf

Photo credit: Paul Pival/Flickr
Chasing Survival: Many Species Face Climate Change's Ultimate Test. Here's an excerpt from InsideClimate News: "Roughly
half of the world's species are currently on the move. As global
warming drives ocean and air temperatures higher, they are chasing the
habitats they are accustomed to—heading further north or to higher elevations or following the trail of their food sources. Those
that can't keep up with the pace of change face extinction, and if
warming continues at its current pace, one in six species is projected
to go extinct. That number falls to one in 20 if the rise is constrained
to 2 degrees Celsius, the global climate goal— still a catastrophic
number..."
Image credit: "Using 29 years of data from Landsat satellites, researchers at NASA have found extensive greening in the vegetation across Alaska and Canada. Rapidly increasing temperatures in the Arctic have led to longer growing seasons and changing soil for plants." (Cindy Starr/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center).
Photo credit: "After a wildfire destroyed parts of Fort McMurray, one expert says cities should begin rejecting proposed developments located near fire-prone forests or on flood plains in order to mitigate the damage from future natural disasters." (Terry Reith/CBC).
Photo credit: "Storage tanks are seen inside the Exxonmobil Baton Rouge Refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, November 6, 2015." Reuters/Lee Celano.
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