Statewide warm spell to continue into next week, may intensify
A Minneapolis resident tries to keep cool Monday, July 2, 2012 in the shade at the wading pool at Mueller Park in south Minneapolis.
MPR Photo/Jennifer Simonson
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No matter where you are in the state, there is no doubt that on Tuesday you experienced some pretty warm weather for early May. To learn more about how long this stretch of sunny weather will last, MPR News host Nina Moini talks with MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: Well, no matter where you've been in the state, no doubt yesterday, you experienced some pretty warm weather, especially for early May. I was outside, I got my first sunburn of the season. To learn more about how long this beautifully warm weather will last, MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner is here. Thanks for being here, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, it's my pleasure. What a lovely spring day out there today, Nina. It's a little refreshing out there today.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, after yesterday. So before we get into the weather, though, I loved listening to your piece that we ran yesterday. And it ran on All Things Considered, remembering the 1965 tornado outbreak. I mean, you were four years old. Little four-year-old Paul Huttner was out there. And that was really something for your development, right, Paul?
PAUL HUTTNER: It really was, Nina. If you could hook Netflix up to my brain or a DVD, I mean, this memory is still so vivid that I could play it all out. We were young kids in the western suburbs in Deephaven, and my older brothers and sister were home from school. And the sky was green, and it was hailing, like big chunks of hail as big as your fist. And we had football helmets on, trying to pick up the hail and put it in the freezer. And my mom comes out screaming, "You kids get in the basement! Your father called. He said there's a tornado coming!"
My dad was a security guard at the courthouse in Minneapolis. And that's where the police were. And they had the radio traffic saying tornadoes were on the ground in the southwest metro. So we went in the basement, and I saw the twister go by. It was very close to our house. Our home was not damaged. But within about a half a mile to a mile, homes were just flattened, Nina. And that leaves a lasting impression. Six tornadoes, four were EF-4. So this was an Oklahoma-style outbreak. Winds over 200 miles an hour. That's never happened since in the state of Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: Oh, I really hope it doesn't.
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, me too.
NINA MOINI: Well, OK, so we're looking ahead at this weekend. Really warm yesterday. Today is nice. What are we looking at?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, I'll tell you what, what you see is what you get in terms of blue sky and warmer than normal temperatures, Nina. Now, we're a little cool today and tomorrow. Kind of a lake-effect breeze off Lake Superior. It's in the 40s and 50s on the north shore today. But mostly 60s, and we'll be 70s in the south here. We'll top out around 72 in the Twin Cities with that refreshing northeast breeze.
Tomorrow, less wind, sunny, 70. And then we're back in the 80s this weekend. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, lots of sunshine. 82 Friday, 81 on Saturday, and 85 on Sunday. Almost a perfect stretch of weather here if you like warm and sunny.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and good to remember Sunday's Mother's Day. So it's going to be 85 degrees, everybody. So plan accordingly. And I hate to be the person that's like, it's so warm for May. But, I mean, how long is this going to last, Paul?
PAUL HUTTNER: Well, I'll tell you what, it amplifies even a little early next week, Nina. We're going to see a string of 80s, like mid to upper 80s, in the Twin Cities. We could hit 86 to 88 Monday and Tuesday. I think we'll see 90 in western Minnesota early next week, around Madison and Appleton. And that'll be near records next week. The thing is, we won't be getting any rain, and we're getting a little droughty out there. But it'll feel like a July preview early next week. It looks like it will start to cool down again toward the latter part of next week. Nina.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, we did have a lot of rain for a while. So we're starting to feel a little droughty?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, we dug our way out of drought with those aggressive spring rains that we've had. But right now, I'm looking at the maps and showing little or no rain for most of Minnesota into the early or middle part of next week. And with this warm sun and the breeze, Nina, it can suck about a quarter of an inch a day out of soils of moisture.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: So we could use some rain. None in the next week or so. But we'll see if that pattern changes here as we get toward the end of next week.
NINA MOINI: All right. And, Paul, what do you have going for Climate Cast this week?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, recycling in Minnesota, right? We love to recycle here. It actually has greenhouse gas benefits. Like plastics, you can save 30% to 80% of the greenhouse emissions versus creating new plastics. So we'll do a check-in, see how Minnesota is doing. There are some new facilities that are interesting. And we'll do that tomorrow on Climate Cast on All Things Considered.
NINA MOINI: Sounds great. Thanks, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.
PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, it's my pleasure. What a lovely spring day out there today, Nina. It's a little refreshing out there today.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, after yesterday. So before we get into the weather, though, I loved listening to your piece that we ran yesterday. And it ran on All Things Considered, remembering the 1965 tornado outbreak. I mean, you were four years old. Little four-year-old Paul Huttner was out there. And that was really something for your development, right, Paul?
PAUL HUTTNER: It really was, Nina. If you could hook Netflix up to my brain or a DVD, I mean, this memory is still so vivid that I could play it all out. We were young kids in the western suburbs in Deephaven, and my older brothers and sister were home from school. And the sky was green, and it was hailing, like big chunks of hail as big as your fist. And we had football helmets on, trying to pick up the hail and put it in the freezer. And my mom comes out screaming, "You kids get in the basement! Your father called. He said there's a tornado coming!"
My dad was a security guard at the courthouse in Minneapolis. And that's where the police were. And they had the radio traffic saying tornadoes were on the ground in the southwest metro. So we went in the basement, and I saw the twister go by. It was very close to our house. Our home was not damaged. But within about a half a mile to a mile, homes were just flattened, Nina. And that leaves a lasting impression. Six tornadoes, four were EF-4. So this was an Oklahoma-style outbreak. Winds over 200 miles an hour. That's never happened since in the state of Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: Oh, I really hope it doesn't.
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, me too.
NINA MOINI: Well, OK, so we're looking ahead at this weekend. Really warm yesterday. Today is nice. What are we looking at?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, I'll tell you what, what you see is what you get in terms of blue sky and warmer than normal temperatures, Nina. Now, we're a little cool today and tomorrow. Kind of a lake-effect breeze off Lake Superior. It's in the 40s and 50s on the north shore today. But mostly 60s, and we'll be 70s in the south here. We'll top out around 72 in the Twin Cities with that refreshing northeast breeze.
Tomorrow, less wind, sunny, 70. And then we're back in the 80s this weekend. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, lots of sunshine. 82 Friday, 81 on Saturday, and 85 on Sunday. Almost a perfect stretch of weather here if you like warm and sunny.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and good to remember Sunday's Mother's Day. So it's going to be 85 degrees, everybody. So plan accordingly. And I hate to be the person that's like, it's so warm for May. But, I mean, how long is this going to last, Paul?
PAUL HUTTNER: Well, I'll tell you what, it amplifies even a little early next week, Nina. We're going to see a string of 80s, like mid to upper 80s, in the Twin Cities. We could hit 86 to 88 Monday and Tuesday. I think we'll see 90 in western Minnesota early next week, around Madison and Appleton. And that'll be near records next week. The thing is, we won't be getting any rain, and we're getting a little droughty out there. But it'll feel like a July preview early next week. It looks like it will start to cool down again toward the latter part of next week. Nina.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, we did have a lot of rain for a while. So we're starting to feel a little droughty?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, we dug our way out of drought with those aggressive spring rains that we've had. But right now, I'm looking at the maps and showing little or no rain for most of Minnesota into the early or middle part of next week. And with this warm sun and the breeze, Nina, it can suck about a quarter of an inch a day out of soils of moisture.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: So we could use some rain. None in the next week or so. But we'll see if that pattern changes here as we get toward the end of next week.
NINA MOINI: All right. And, Paul, what do you have going for Climate Cast this week?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, recycling in Minnesota, right? We love to recycle here. It actually has greenhouse gas benefits. Like plastics, you can save 30% to 80% of the greenhouse emissions versus creating new plastics. So we'll do a check-in, see how Minnesota is doing. There are some new facilities that are interesting. And we'll do that tomorrow on Climate Cast on All Things Considered.
NINA MOINI: Sounds great. Thanks, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.
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