May 2025 General Discussion

[A-L-E-K]

Beautiful day despite lake cooling, full sun really helping 

[michsnowfreak]

32 minutes ago, roardog said:

It seems hard not to have to use either heat or AC here in Spring(obviously heat more than AC). September and to a lesser extent October seems to be the months where I can get away with using neither the most. Even the warm days have much longer nights by then which cools it off quicker. It’s always refreshing to be able to have windows open all day during the summer but I hate when the house gets above 75 so that’s a problem for a lot of summer days. lol

I couldn't agree more. Although many years seems like we go from AC September to heat October. 

[Cary67]

46 minutes ago, A-L-E-K said:

Beautiful day despite lake cooling, full sun really helping 

Here it comes

[Brian D]

Red Flag warnings out for very dry, warm conditions. Gusty winds up to 30 mph possible. MN fishing opener this weekend. One of the better openers we've had, as far as pleasant conditions go.

 

Happy Mother's Day to any that may be on the board. Think it's mainly a guy thing around here, tho. 

[cyclone77]

100 degrees up in the frozen tundra of northwest MN. Very early for that kind of heat.

[cyclone77]

May have a slight shot at mid 90s on Thursday here as dewpoints plunge in the afternoon.  

[Chinook]

I got another great (clear sky) sunset last night.

[OrdIowPitMsp]

We’ve reached 90 at MSP. Setting a new record high for today. There is a 200 acre wildfire burning north of @Brian Din Brimson MN. With the conditions the next few days it could get out of hand quickly if not contained. 

[Chinook]

Grand Forks was high 99, low 60. That breaks a high temperature record of 95, set back in 1906. Surprisingly, Grand Forks was 86 degrees on May 11th, 2023 and 85 degrees on May 11th 2024. These are nearly the maximum values since 1907.

[TheClimateChanger]

1 hour ago, Chinook said:

Grand Forks was high 99, low 60. That breaks a high temperature record of 95, set back in 1906. Surprisingly, Grand Forks was 86 degrees on May 11th, 2023 and 85 degrees on May 11th 2024. These are nearly the maximum values since 1907.

Stalled out after the 12:53 pm CDT observation, which is really before local solar noon during daylight saving time. Thought they would climb to at least 101 or 102, after rising 39F already by that point of the day.  There were monthly record highs at several locations, including International Falls, which reached 96F, beating out the record of 95F from May 21, 1964. Minot, ND reached 99, matching the value reached on May 22, 1980 at the airport. While not a ThreadEx location, it does look like the NWS does an unofficial thread supplying records prior to 1948 from the Experimental Station where there were a couple of higher values (100 on May 23, 1928 & 105 on May 31, 1934).

Could see some monthly record high minimums tomorrow at several locations as forecast lows for tonight are close to the highest observed in the month of May, including International Falls where the forecast low of 66F would tie the monthly record high.

[TheClimateChanger]

22 minutes ago, TheClimateChanger said:

Stalled out after the 12:53 pm CDT observation, which is really before local solar noon during daylight saving time. Thought they would climb to at least 101 or 102, after rising 39F already by that point of the day.  There were monthly record highs at several locations, including International Falls, which reached 96F, beating out the record of 95F from May 21, 1964. Minot, ND reached 99, matching the value reached on May 22, 1980 at the airport. While not a ThreadEx location, it does look like the NWS does an unofficial thread supplying records prior to 1948 from the Experimental Station where there were a couple of higher values (100 on May 23, 1928 & 105 on May 31, 1934).

Could see some monthly record high minimums tomorrow at several locations as forecast lows for tonight are close to the highest observed in the month of May, including International Falls where the forecast low of 66F would tie the monthly record high.

Even excluding today's 99F, the mean high temperature at Grand Forks was running as 8th warmest on record for the first 10 days of the month. This is an interesting set of analog years. Not sure it means much, but 1934, 1936 & 1988. Even 1980 & 1977 had some big heat. The two most recent years on the list don't follow, however - especially 2023.

[michsnowfreak]

Crazy to see 96° at International Falls, MN today. The icebox of the nation. Detroit has never officially hit 96° in May!

Very pleasant Mother's Day here. Lows in the mid 40s, highs mid 60s and going back to the 40s tonight. 

[Brian D]

13 hours ago, OrdIowPitMsp said:

We’ve reached 90 at MSP. Setting a new record high for today. There is a 200 acre wildfire burning north of @Brian Din Brimson MN. With the conditions the next few days it could get out of hand quickly if not contained. 

"Camphouse Fire" it's called, as it's just on the N side of Camphouse Rd. It was 200 acres last night, maybe a bit more this morning. Very, very dry conditions. Rel Hum was like desert air yesterday around 10% or so. Temps skyrocketed because of that on stiff SW winds. 

Here in town, temps steadily climbed into the mid 70's until around 10pm or so, as the S winds started shifting SW, lessening the Lake's influence. Another hot one today. 

[Brian D]

Summer to Spring this week. Potential snow along the border this weekend.

 

[TheClimateChanger]

11 hours ago, TheClimateChanger said:

Stalled out after the 12:53 pm CDT observation, which is really before local solar noon during daylight saving time. Thought they would climb to at least 101 or 102, after rising 39F already by that point of the day.  There were monthly record highs at several locations, including International Falls, which reached 96F, beating out the record of 95F from May 21, 1964. Minot, ND reached 99, matching the value reached on May 22, 1980 at the airport. While not a ThreadEx location, it does look like the NWS does an unofficial thread supplying records prior to 1948 from the Experimental Station where there were a couple of higher values (100 on May 23, 1928 & 105 on May 31, 1934).

Could see some monthly record high minimums tomorrow at several locations as forecast lows for tonight are close to the highest observed in the month of May, including International Falls where the forecast low of 66F would tie the monthly record high.

Low of 70F at INL this morning, which will easily surpass the monthly record high minimum of 66F set on 5/21/1992 & 5/31/1988. In fact, it's only one degree shy of the June monthly high minimum of 71F set on 6/25/2001. With that said, it is possible that it may fall below 70F by 1 am CDT / midnight CST, but it should stay above 66F. The forecast low tonight is 64F at INL.

[TheClimateChanger]

59 minutes ago, Brian D said:

"Camphouse Fire" it's called, as it's just on the N side of Camphouse Rd. It was 200 acres last night, maybe a bit more this morning. Very, very dry conditions. Rel Hum was like desert air yesterday around 10% or so. Temps skyrocketed because of that on stiff SW winds. 

Here in town, temps steadily climbed into the mid 70's until around 10pm or so, as the S winds started shifting SW, lessening the Lake's influence. Another hot one today. 

Your neck of the woods was highlighted in the National Climate Assessment as facing one of the highest increases in relative fire danger. Those marginal boreal forests are especially at risk with species like aspen and balsam fir, which are well adapted for a cooler, wetter climate. The Trump administration wants to increase logging on public lands, including a number of the forests up there. Probably not a bad thing to provide fire breaks and facilitate the transfer of new species from forests further south.

[michsnowfreak]

1 hour ago, Brian D said:

"Camphouse Fire" it's called, as it's just on the N side of Camphouse Rd. It was 200 acres last night, maybe a bit more this morning. Very, very dry conditions. Rel Hum was like desert air yesterday around 10% or so. Temps skyrocketed because of that on stiff SW winds. 

Here in town, temps steadily climbed into the mid 70's until around 10pm or so, as the S winds started shifting SW, lessening the Lake's influence. Another hot one today. 

Hopefully you get some rain soon, dont need those beautiful northwoods to burn!

Im a lover of all things northern trees lol; my backyard has 2 balsam firs (1 is massive), 1 douglas fir, a white paper birch tree, a white pine, a norway spruce & an autumn blaze maple.

[michsnowfreak]

Unusually impressive diurnal ranges the past week here. Forecast to go to 80-82 today.

DTW high / low
05-07: 76 / 48
05-08: 58 / 40
05-09: 66 / 36
05-10: 80 / 45
05-11: 67 / 46
05-12: ?? / 44
 

[OrdIowPitMsp]

43 minutes ago, TheClimateChanger said:

Low of 70F at INL this morning, which will easily surpass the monthly record high minimum of 66F set on 5/21/1992 & 5/31/1988. In fact, it's only one degree shy of the June monthly high minimum of 71F set on 6/25/2001. With that said, it is possible that it may fall below 70F by 1 am CDT / midnight CST, but it should stay above 66F. The forecast low tonight is 64F at INL.

Impressive considering we got down to 58 at MSP. The heat island capital of the Midwest. 

[OrdIowPitMsp]

4 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

I’m a lover of all things northern trees lol; my backyard has 2 balsam firs (1 is massive), 1 douglas fir, a white paper birch tree, a white pine, a norway spruce & an autumn blaze maple.

Ditto. Northern boreal transition forests are my favorite. My neighbors Norway spruce puts off a handful of saplings in my yard every spring. Want me to ship you some?

[michsnowfreak]

2 minutes ago, OrdIowPitMsp said:

Ditto. Northern boreal transition forests are my favorite. My neighbors Norway spruce puts off a handful of saplings in my yard every spring. Want me to ship you some?

haha its almost like an addiction...I want more trees...but I have no more room! Do you keep any of the sapplings to grow in your yard? Its fun to watch them grow and quite honestly, its my favorite part of spring. My neighbor has 3 big white pines too. Our backyards of southern MI are very "northern exposure" lol. You actually see a lot of white paper birch trees, a ton of white pines (MI state tree) and quite a few balsam and douglas firs in southern MI even though "up north" is their natural habitat. 

[TheClimateChanger]

9 minutes ago, OrdIowPitMsp said:

Impressive considering we got down to 58 at MSP. The heat island capital of the Midwest. 

Looks like they mostly resolved the UHI at MSP. It's been running middle of the pack at least for daytime temperatures compared to the region. Used to be 2-3F warmer than most sites.

[OrdIowPitMsp]

5 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

haha its almost like an addiction...I want more trees...but I have no more room! Do you keep any of the sapplings to grow in your yard? Its fun to watch them grow and quite honestly, its my favorite part of spring. My neighbor has 3 big white pines too. Our backyards of southern MI are very "northern exposure" lol. You actually see a lot of white paper birch trees, a ton of white pines (MI state tree) and quite a few balsam and douglas firs in southern MI even though "up north" is their natural habitat. 

Our yard is so small and with two kids I want to maximize space for them to play and have a garden, so no trees back there. I’ve got a couple sugar maples in front and the Norway Spruces are right against the fence. Hopefully in a couple years we’ll move out to the suburbs and have a lot of space for tree planting. 

[michsnowfreak]

7 minutes ago, OrdIowPitMsp said:

Our yard is so small and with two kids I want to maximize space for them to play and have a garden, so no trees back there. I’ve got a couple sugar maples in front and the Norway Spruces are right against the fence. Hopefully in a couple years we’ll move out to the suburbs and have a lot of space for tree planting. 

Yes thats why Im a suburbs person. Sounds like you plan to stay in MN instead of returning to IL, which is cool. I LOVE sugar maples!

[OrdIowPitMsp]

6 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

Yes thats why Im a suburbs person. Sounds like you plan to stay in MN instead of returning to IL, which is cool. I LOVE sugar maples!

Nope. I’m a lifer here, wife is from Plymouth MN. If I had my way we’d move to Duluth or north, but that is not a battle i’m winning until the kids are grown. 

[michsnowfreak]

22 minutes ago, OrdIowPitMsp said:

Nope. I’m a lifer here, wife is from Plymouth MN. If I had my way we’d move to Duluth or north, but that is not a battle i’m winning until the kids are grown. 

Nice! Id love to visit MN someday. I like living where I do and visiting northern MI, so maybe just take lots of trips to northern MN.