Clouds Slowly Increase Sunday - Cooler Into Thanksgiving Week

While we will begin Sunday with mainly sunny skies in the metro, some cloud cover will start to work on in during the afternoon hours. Morning temperatures will start off in the mid-30s with highs in the low 50s.

Another quiet day of weather is expected statewide on Sunday. The main thing to track will be increasing clouds during the morning hours in southwestern Minnesota, gradually working northeast throughout the day. Lake Superior may help to bring some low clouds to the North Shore as well. Highs range from the 40s in northern Minnesota to near 60F in southwestern parts of the state.

_______________________________________________

As we head into the holiday week, we will be watching the chance for a few showers or drizzle at times, with possibly a better chance of it occurring during the overnight hours. By Tuesday morning, we have the potential to see a little bit of a mix with morning temperatures down around freezing. Temperatures to begin the week won't be as warm as this weekend - mid-40s on Monday then low 40s for Tuesday.

_______________________________________________

Behind that rain/mixed chance Monday Night, we continue to watch a cool down that'll make it feel more like we're heading into winter than we've seen recently. A gradual temperature downturn will lead us from the 50s this weekend to the 40s early next week, 30s in the mid-week timeframe (including Thanksgiving Thursday), and then 20s for Black Friday and next Saturday. Temperatures could start to climb back upward after that slowly.

An early look at Thanksgiving Day Thursday for the metro shows quiet weather in place, but chilly conditions for any outdoor pick-up games of football. After starting the day in the low 20s, highs are expected to reach the low 30s. With strong northwesterly winds, it'll feel like the teens for most of the day.

_______________________________________________

Twin Cities Metro Now In Growing Zone 5A
By Paul Douglas

My green lawn is mocking me. Does grass grow after the first freeze? I'm seeing lawn mowers, not snow blowers. I keep waiting for the other shoe (boot) to drop. Not yet.

For the record I'm pro-snow, but anti-30 below. I am strangely OK with all of this.

You can thank (or blame) a strong El Nino coupled with background warming - snow and ice consistently arrives later in autumn and 2023 is no exception. According to the USDA's new plant hardiness zone map, the MSP metro is now in Zone 5A. Just 40 years ago, Zone 5A was near the Missouri/Iowa border, according to Dr. Mark Seely. Don't believe the climate is changing? Tell that to the new plants, trees and shrubs growing in your yard.

Enjoy low 50s today because temperature deflation arrives later this week, with 30s by Thankgiving. Sunshine today gives way to a little rain Monday. A storm sliding south of MN may brush the metro with slush Friday, with a few inches near the Iowa border. No wild snowstorms. Just a subtle, friendly reminder it's November.

_______________________________________________

Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SUNDAY: Sunny and pleasant. Wake up 34. High 52. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind SE 10-15 mph.

MONDAY: A little light rain or drizzle. Wake up 38. High 47. Chance of precipitation 70%. Wind SE 10-15 mph.

TUESDAY: Clearing skies with a colder wind. Wake up 37. High 41. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NW 15-30 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Breezy, a bit milder. Wake up 28. High 45. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind SW 10-20 mph.

THURSDAY: Chilled sunshine, turkey hangover. Wake up 28. High 36. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NW 10-15 mph.

FRIDAY: Slush potential. Few inches far south? Wake up 27. High 31. Chance of precipitation 60%. Wind NW 8-13 mph.

SATURDAY: Some sun, better travel. Feels like 10. Wake up 22. High 26. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NW 10-20 mph.

_______________________________________________

Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
November 19th

*Length Of Day: 9 hours, 24 minutes, and 47 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 2 minutes and 12 seconds

*When Do We Drop Below 9 Hours Of Sunlight? December 3rd (8 hours, 59 minutes, 24 seconds)
*When Is Sunrise At/After 7:30 AM? December 1st (7:30 AM)
*What Is The Earliest Sunset? December 8th-14th (4:31 PM)
_______________________________________________

This Day in Weather History
November 19th

1981: Heavy snow with near blizzard conditions is observed over parts of the state. A two day total of 10.4 inches of snow was received at Minneapolis, which caused the inflated fabric of the Metrodome to collapse and rip.

1957: Snowstorm in Southeast Minnesota. A foot is dumped at Winona. Heavy crop losses.

_______________________________________________

Several areas of low pressure will be in place Sunday from the western to the central United States, bringing the potential of showers, thunderstorms, and snowfall. A few storms could be strong across Oklahoma, mainly capable of large hail. We'll also track some mixed precipitation or snow across New England due to a cold front moving in.

Pockets of heavy rain are expected across the nation through Monday, including out west (where the heaviest will fall in the mountains as mainly snow) and in the central U.S. (where 1-2"+ are possible).

Several inches of snow is expected to fall in the mountains out west through Monday, with some of the Sierra and Cascades potentially picking up a foot or more.

_______________________________________________

How does climate change threaten where you live? A region-by-region guide.

More from Grist: "Every four years, the federal government is required to gather up the leading research on how climate change is affecting Americans, boil it all down, and then publish a National Climate Assessment. This report, a collaboration between more than a dozen federal agencies and a wide array of academic researchers, takes stock of just how severe global warming has become and meticulously breaks down its effects by geography — 10 distinct regions in total, encompassing all of the country's states and territories. The last report, which the Trump administration tried to bury when it came out in 2018, was the most dire since the first assessment was published in 2000. Until now."

New plant hardiness map, used by gardeners nationwide, is unveiled

More from Phys.org: "The U.S. Department of Agriculture today released its new Plant Hardiness Zone Map, the national standard by which gardeners can determine which plants are most likely to survive the coldest winter temperatures at a certain location. The USDA describes the latest map, jointly developed by Oregon State University's PRISM Climate Group and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, as the most accurate and detailed it has ever released. ... "Overall, the 2023 map is about 2.5 degrees warmer than the 2012 map across the conterminous United States," Daly said. "This translated into about half of the country shifting to a warmer 5-degree half zone, and half remaining in the same half zone. The central plains and Midwest generally warmed the most, with the southwestern U.S. warming very little.""

US EV sales are having a record-setting year

More from Canary Media: "Despite recent headlines declaring the industry stagnant or moribund, the U.S. electric-vehicle market is actually well past the tipping point for mass adoption — and its healthy sales growth underscores that. Through the first nine months of the year, EV sales are up nearly 50 percent, already surpassing the full-year total for 2022. And if buyers continue to snap up EVs at the current clip, they'll easily surpass 1 million annual sales for the first time ever. By at least one metric, the shift to mass adoption is already well underway: Once EVs account for 5 percent of new car sales, ​"everything changes," according to an analysis by Bloomberg Green that reports the U.S. crossed that crucial threshold in late 2021. In the third quarter of 2023, EVs made up around 8 percent of U.S. new car sales."

_______________________________________________

Follow me on:

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

- D.J. Kayser