Critical fire weather danger this week
Minnesota's air on Wednesday was drier than Phoenix
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This is not the week to start a fire in Minnesota.
Our bone-dry air mass combined with gusty winds to 35 mph Thursday and Friday means very high fire weather danger.
A fire weather watch for Thursday includes much of northeastern and southeastern Minnesota:
URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Duluth MN 240 PM CDT Wed Oct 16 2024 ...NEAR-CRITICAL TO CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ACROSS NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA THURSDAY... .Breezy southerly winds gusting to 30 to 35 mph Thursday along with relative humidity values as low as 25 percent will lead to near-critical fire weather conditions across northeastern Minnesota Thursday morning through Thursday afternoon. RH values will improve Thursday evening as the air near the ground begins to cool around sunset.
Koochiching-North St. Louis-Northern Cook and Lake-North Itasca- Central St. Louis-Southern Lake-Southern Cook-North Cass- South Itasca-South Cass-Crow Wing-Northern Aitkin-South Aitkin- Carlton and South St. Louis-Pine-
240 PM CDT Wed Oct 16 2024
...FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY ACROSS NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA...
The National Weather Service in Duluth has issued a Fire Weather Watch for wind and low relative humidity, which is in effect from Thursday morning through Thursday evening.
* AFFECTED AREA...In Minnesota, Koochiching, North St. Louis, Northern Cook and Lake, North Itasca, Central St. Louis, Southern Lake, Southern Cook, North Cass, South Itasca, South Cass, Crow Wing, Northern Aitkin, South Aitkin, Carlton and South St. Louis and Pine.
* WINDS...South 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph.
* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 25 percent.
* IMPACTS...This combination of wind and minimum RH could lead to the rapid spread of fires.
Drier than the desert
Dew points in Minnesota are in the teens to single digits across parts of Minnesota late Wednesday afternoon.
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Here are some select dew point readings as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Twin Cities, 20 degrees
Crane Lake, 19 degrees
Appleton, 16 degrees
Hibbing, 13 degrees
Mora, 9 degrees
The air mass over Minnesota Wednesday is drier than the desert air mass currently over places like Arizona. The dew point in Phoenix is 31 degrees and in Tucson, it’s 33 degrees!
Dew points Thursday across Minnesota will run in the 20s once again, but we could see some locations in the teens.
South winds will gust between 30 and 40 mph across Minnesota on Thursday.
Stay safe out there, Minnesota.