Move over, June gloom? Hot, humid weather on the way
Blue sky at the Weather Lab on June 13, 2024.
Paul Huttner | MPR News
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: Well, Minnesota has seen a lot of different weather this month. We've seen severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, lots of drizzly, cloudy days, and it hasn't felt too summery, though, this June. But that is about to change. So here to explain is MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner. Thanks for being here, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, always a pleasure, Nina. We even had the very large Doppler this week, looking at tornadoes. So it's been quite a week around Minnesota already.
NINA MOINI: Oh, multiple tornadoes were reported during that severe weather earlier this week. What do you know about sort of the final-- is there a final count on those on how many touched down? That was Monday.
PAUL HUTTNER: It was. Yeah, stormy Monday. And they still are out in the field collecting these tornado reports. Weather Service office sends meteorologists out to assess the damage. Here's what we know so far. It looks like six tornadoes at least. We'll see. That number could change a little bit. But up north, Brainerd, Lake Mille Lacs, or Lake-- Gull Lake area. Casino to Gull Lake, one tornado was on the ground for 22 minutes there.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: It was an EF1, 100 mile an hour winds. It was 11 miles long on the ground. Another second tornado, Merrifield was on the ground for 26 minutes. That also EF1, 100 mile an hour winds. It was on the ground for 11 miles, lifted just west of Crosby, Minnesota.
And then it looks like there was one for-- west of Henning and Otter Tail County, also near Otter Tail Lake. Another one, Bertha Todd County. And then down around Mankato, Courtland and Nicollet, two more tornadoes. So six kind of preliminary. We'll see. There are still maybe some reports coming in. But Monday was certainly a significant severe weather and tornado day across Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and Paul, would you tell us a little bit more about what it looks like when the National Weather Service and survey teams go out and they try to figure out what was the severity and the strength of one of these?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, so you hear those EF scale numbers, right?
NINA MOINI: Yeah.
PAUL HUTTNER: 1 to 5, based on the severity of the damage. That's actually a structural analysis and tree analysis. Engineers have gotten involved in that process. And they said, here's how much wind it takes to do this or that kind of damage. So survey teams will go out. They'll look at that damage. They'll compare it to other damage. And that's how they come up with those EF scales, EF1 around 100 mile an hour winds. So pretty fortunate those tornadoes weren't any stronger than EF1 this week.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, we saw a lot of rainfall this week as well. The Twin Cities saw some different flash flooding types of situations in the street. Of course, up in Northeastern Minnesota, they're dealing still with those wildfire zones. What were you tracking this week, rainfall-wise?
PAUL HUTTNER: Well, we got some great news, Nina, from Northeast Minnesota, because those wildfire zones you mentioned got soaked this week.
NINA MOINI: Oh, good.
PAUL HUTTNER: Anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rain up there. east of Grand Rapids, 4.75 inches. The Ely area, about 4 inches. Tower, 3.7. Grand Marais had 3. And then you get down into the Twin Cities, 1 to 2 inches. But like you said, it came down quick. That rain came down in a matter of about 15 to 30 minutes. So that's why we see that urban flooding when we get that.
And here's some other great news. There's been rain up in the Canadian wildfire zones. There is much less smoke I'm seeing on the satellite loops today. And the air quality across Minnesota because of all that rain is good to excellent. We washed a lot of that smoke out of the air, and it's good upstream. So I don't think we're going to see any air quality alerts for a while. The forecast for air quality this week looks really good across Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: That's nice. Before I let you go, Paul, tell us about-- I can't believe it's almost the summer solstice. June's kind of flying by.
PAUL HUTTNER: It is. Yeah, Friday at 9:42 is the minute it happens. The sun is furthest north in its annual trek. It's also the longest day, of course, 15 hours and 36 minutes of daylight here in the Twin Cities, and will stay 15 hours-plus till July 23. Looks like our weather is more summery, too. We're into the 80s this week, 90s this weekend, Nina, with hot and humid conditions. Best chance of storms, looks like, comes. Maybe slight chance late this afternoon, but then Friday morning.
NINA MOINI: Thank you so much, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner. You can hear his series Climate Cast Thursdays on All Things Considered.
PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, always a pleasure, Nina. We even had the very large Doppler this week, looking at tornadoes. So it's been quite a week around Minnesota already.
NINA MOINI: Oh, multiple tornadoes were reported during that severe weather earlier this week. What do you know about sort of the final-- is there a final count on those on how many touched down? That was Monday.
PAUL HUTTNER: It was. Yeah, stormy Monday. And they still are out in the field collecting these tornado reports. Weather Service office sends meteorologists out to assess the damage. Here's what we know so far. It looks like six tornadoes at least. We'll see. That number could change a little bit. But up north, Brainerd, Lake Mille Lacs, or Lake-- Gull Lake area. Casino to Gull Lake, one tornado was on the ground for 22 minutes there.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
PAUL HUTTNER: It was an EF1, 100 mile an hour winds. It was 11 miles long on the ground. Another second tornado, Merrifield was on the ground for 26 minutes. That also EF1, 100 mile an hour winds. It was on the ground for 11 miles, lifted just west of Crosby, Minnesota.
And then it looks like there was one for-- west of Henning and Otter Tail County, also near Otter Tail Lake. Another one, Bertha Todd County. And then down around Mankato, Courtland and Nicollet, two more tornadoes. So six kind of preliminary. We'll see. There are still maybe some reports coming in. But Monday was certainly a significant severe weather and tornado day across Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and Paul, would you tell us a little bit more about what it looks like when the National Weather Service and survey teams go out and they try to figure out what was the severity and the strength of one of these?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, so you hear those EF scale numbers, right?
NINA MOINI: Yeah.
PAUL HUTTNER: 1 to 5, based on the severity of the damage. That's actually a structural analysis and tree analysis. Engineers have gotten involved in that process. And they said, here's how much wind it takes to do this or that kind of damage. So survey teams will go out. They'll look at that damage. They'll compare it to other damage. And that's how they come up with those EF scales, EF1 around 100 mile an hour winds. So pretty fortunate those tornadoes weren't any stronger than EF1 this week.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, we saw a lot of rainfall this week as well. The Twin Cities saw some different flash flooding types of situations in the street. Of course, up in Northeastern Minnesota, they're dealing still with those wildfire zones. What were you tracking this week, rainfall-wise?
PAUL HUTTNER: Well, we got some great news, Nina, from Northeast Minnesota, because those wildfire zones you mentioned got soaked this week.
NINA MOINI: Oh, good.
PAUL HUTTNER: Anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rain up there. east of Grand Rapids, 4.75 inches. The Ely area, about 4 inches. Tower, 3.7. Grand Marais had 3. And then you get down into the Twin Cities, 1 to 2 inches. But like you said, it came down quick. That rain came down in a matter of about 15 to 30 minutes. So that's why we see that urban flooding when we get that.
And here's some other great news. There's been rain up in the Canadian wildfire zones. There is much less smoke I'm seeing on the satellite loops today. And the air quality across Minnesota because of all that rain is good to excellent. We washed a lot of that smoke out of the air, and it's good upstream. So I don't think we're going to see any air quality alerts for a while. The forecast for air quality this week looks really good across Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: That's nice. Before I let you go, Paul, tell us about-- I can't believe it's almost the summer solstice. June's kind of flying by.
PAUL HUTTNER: It is. Yeah, Friday at 9:42 is the minute it happens. The sun is furthest north in its annual trek. It's also the longest day, of course, 15 hours and 36 minutes of daylight here in the Twin Cities, and will stay 15 hours-plus till July 23. Looks like our weather is more summery, too. We're into the 80s this week, 90s this weekend, Nina, with hot and humid conditions. Best chance of storms, looks like, comes. Maybe slight chance late this afternoon, but then Friday morning.
NINA MOINI: Thank you so much, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner. You can hear his series Climate Cast Thursdays on All Things Considered.
Download transcript (PDF)
Transcription services provided by 3Play Media.