Brian D

Powerball chuckling at the warmer wx up here reminds me of a story published in our local paper about 25 yrs or so ago. The writer, Monica, had friends come up from TX, and stayed with her for about a week or so during the summer. Around mid July-early Aug, I believe We just so happened to have a heat wave come on with temps in the upper 80's-low 90's, with higher dews, which is unusually warm for here. A/C is not commonly used here in homes. Businesses, and vehicles have it, tho. Monica didn't have A/C, so the house stayed pretty darn warm, and she was using fans to stay cool as best as possible. She couldn't understand why they were complaining so much about the heat. Being from TX, they should be used to that by now, especially since it was a bit hotter there during the summer on a regular basis. When she asked, they said they lived in A/C cooled homes, and all businesses, and cars had A/C. So basically, they were not used to the heat because they never were in the heat that much. We tend to weather brief heat waves without A/C around here. Although, I did eventually buy a window unit for the hotter days. But I did understand how the TX folks felt. Back in my Army days in NJ, we would be pretty warm during the summer, and being fairly close to the ocean (about 5 miles inland), humidity stayed up. A/C was necessary to cool off. And I did my basic training in Ft. Sill, OK during the summer. That's in SW OK. Got pretty darn hot there, and being from up here, I was most definitely not used to that. The barracks did have A/C, but we were outside most of the day, except for indoor classes. Drank lots of water, and salt tabs when needed. So, believe it or not, I started getting used to heat. Having A/C cool downs at night were helpful, but my body could handle the daytime heat better once I became more acclimated. In early June 1989, I came home on leave for my sister's HS grad, and I was chilled because it was already very warm in NJ, and I was used to that already. It was 70's/50's here with lower humidity, with 80's/60's there with higher humidity. The N areas of our sub really are different, especially nearer the Lake.

Similar here. 79-80/62-63. Muggy day. Clouds cleared around midday, and temps started heading N pretty quick. Plenty of juice for more stms.

0.75" of rain last night into the early am hrs. 1.11" for a good start to the month. Avg is 4.23", so a way to go yet, and forecast looks decent for more significant opportunities. For May, ended with 3.88" (3.30" avg) with 2.12" falling on the 22nd. YTD through May is 10.61 (9.66" avg) so doing well there. Last year, starting in May, precip was pretty bleak until later in Sept. Doing better so far this year.

Just came across this article. A bit OT here, but thought it would shine some light on maybe why models these past months seemed really bad. And we might expect the same going forward, especially in the colder months. Just a note, article is from Australia, so don't let the summer of 2024 confuse you. https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-tonga-volcanic-eruption-could-disrupt-weather-for-years-to-come https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01568-2 Note: Not looking to get into a climate change discussion here, just the effects on modelling, and possible wx impacts for us going forward.

How's it going with the cicadas were you are?

Brings back another memory. Don't remember the year, but we had an April storm with strong NE winds that blew the last remaining ice that was nearer Duluth into the Duluth canal, and along Park Point. It was so thick from piling on itself, that the next day, an ore boat was leaving, and tried to make it through the ice at the end of the piers. It couldn't push through, so it had to back up, and redock. The CG cutter Sundew, which was a cutter stationed at the CG station there in the Duluth Harbor (retired in 2004) had to go and make a path through that ice. Took a good day or more to loosen the ice. It was a good 10-15' or more thick. Slabs of ice piled on top of each other. Just a note, but the CG cutter Makinaw was retired in 2006. It was 240 ft long. The Sundew was 180 ft long. Mackinaw was a brute, and could handle much more ice than the Sundew. Hence, during the 1996 shipping opener, she was the work horse leading the boats for a few weeks that season. The ice during that year was running 1-2' thick across the Lake, and as melting was on going, winds would pile the ice to some degree, making it hard for ore boats to navigate, and the threat of open lanes quickly closing, and crushing the boats was the reason for the Mackinaw's extra duty that year.

Reminds me of the 1995-96 winter season. Ice over my way was very late in leaving as well. Trout, and smelt runs were a month late (typically start mid April), and piled ice was on the shores until late June. The ice breaker Mackinaw, had to lead ore boats for quite a while during that time because of the thick, extensive ice. Pretty much through the month of April, I believe. I don't remember how late things were in the 2013-14 season, but it was a stout season.

0.34" of rain from last night's showers. Stayed relatively warm through the night, and I kept my bedroom window open. Foggy morning, and it's still hanging on here at noon.

A very early summer like day with temps around 70-72, and dews around 60-62. Winds out of the S around 10mph. Feels great with the higher humidity. Got some Sun on the deck. I'll take aftrn temps like this all summer.

Broods XIII & XIX emerging together for the first time since 1803. Billions (possibly at the trillion level) of them going to make for a noisy next month across our SW sub. That's quite a lot of cicadas. Wow!

Hopefully, that's hardcore freeze for late May. We might tease frost level temps next week for a day, but should be out of the woods for temps like that.

Upper 20's-mid 30's this morning across NE MN. Should be the last significant run of chilly mornings. Lake breeze yesterday kept temps around 60, with 50's right on the shoreline. Should be the same today.

Yeah, it gets a little chilly sometimes up here in the Summer. This morning it looks like we had temps 30-35 in the inland areas of NE MN. Another round tomorrow morning, too, before it warms up a bit for the weekend.

TH pop running around 3.7k, which is plenty big enough for me to live in. When I was in the Army, stationed in NJ, the big pop difference was very different to handle in everyday life from what I was used too. TOO MUCH, but being young, and forced to adjust, you do what you have too. Nasty air there compared to up here, as well. Duluth has been the biggest city (86k+) that I've had to deal with regularly, and that is not too bad. After my Army years out East, whenever I had to go to the Cities, I was prepared for that. They are still easier to deal with than the mayhem out East. Summer tourism here gets a little nuts, and sirens tend to wail a bit more often than I care for, but it's better than other places I've lived in my younger days.

Temps running in the mid-upper 60's currently (11:30 am) with rain to the W & S. Moving slow this way, so not sure what we'll get here later, if anything. A very light SE wind keeping temps a little lower along the shoreline. A very nice start to Memorial Day.

Good records at Pontiac, and DTW show only 2-2.4" for them so far. But the top 10 wettest May's for them run between 5-8"+. So sounds like you're up there.

Looks like I was too aggressive in bringing in HP for Memorial Day. It makes it's move into our region starting on Tuesday. But not too bad a overall.

A cool morning in the upper 30's-low 40's around NE MN. Picked up 0.28" of rain yesterday from scattered shwrs/stms. Up to 3.82" for the month (3.30" May avg), so doing well there. Looks like another chance at shwrs/stms tonight.

Windy start to the day with chilly NE winds up to 35 mph, and temps in the low 40's this morning. Rain just to the S & W of me as system moves this way.

2.12" here in town. No thunder here tho. Rivers are high, as well as the lawn.

That looks like EF3 to 4 damage along the path. Brutal. Hope everyone made shelter.

First round nets 0.79". Looks like a break for a while on radar before storms creep up this way later.

Already up to around 0.50" of rain, and a long day/night ahead.

Rains incoming from the SE, and a Flash Flood Watch out. Should get interesting around here later today. Hopefully get some good thunder.

After a few showers early this morning, been cloudy with temps hovering around 60 this afternoon. Looks like a good shot at heavier rains tomorrow/tomorrow night with nasty storms to my S possible.