Cold Front Today Brings Storm Chances - Cooler Air Tuesday

The Air Quality Alert that had been in place across portions of eastern Minnesota has been extended through Midnight Monday Night, including the Twin Cities, Rochester, and Mankato. Smoke from Quebec wildfires is lingering in the atmosphere on Monday, causing poor air quality.

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While we did not see a record high here in the Twin Cities on Saturday, we saw a couple of records set up across northern Minnesota with International Falls hitting 88F and Hibbing reaching 85F.

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We've got one more hot day - and one more chance at a 90F-degree high - as we head into Monday. Morning temperatures will start off around 70F with highs nearing 90F. While we'll see a sun/cloud mix during the day, a backdoor cold front will approach heading into the afternoon hours, helping to spark off scattered showers and thunderstorms.

The only place we'll notice cooler highs due to that front on Monday will be in parts of northern Minnesota, where the North Shore will be in the 60s and the rest of north-central/northeast Minnesota in the 70s. The rest of the state will reach at least the 80s, with a few low 90s in spots.

Looking at rainfall from storms Monday into Monday Night, they're going to be sporadic once again, meaning not everyone will see rain. If you end up under a downpour, rainfall tallies could quickly add up, with a quarter inch or more possible in those situations. The severe threat is low, but some small hail or gustier winds can't be ruled out.

Behind that cold front, we'll see temperatures cool back closer to average in the upper 70s and low 80s for the middle of the week. The coolest day appears to be on Wednesday. We'll see some slightly warmer temperatures for the end of the week before another cold front approaches. That'll bring some rain chances later Friday into Friday Night and keep highs in check near average heading into next weekend.

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Cold Front Today Brings Storm Chances & Cooler Air
By D.J. Kayser, filling in for Paul Douglas

Air conditioners have been working overtime over the past week across the region. Through Saturday, the high has hit 90+ at MSP four times this year - the sixth most to date - with two of those days here in June. Over the past 30 years, we average three days of 90-degree heat in June, but the past few years have seen 8 days (2022), 12 days (2021), and 5 days (2020). The most ever in June was 17 in 1933. Meanwhile, the Climate Prediction Center is expecting June to be warmer than average across the upper Midwest, so I expect more sweaty days as we head through the month.

Today likely features the last chance to hit 90F until at least the middle of the month. A few showers and storms will be around as a backdoor cold front moves through. That'll stall nearby, leading to more rain chances for Tuesday and Wednesday mainly west of the metro. This front will also drop highs back into the upper 70s and low 80s for mid-week.

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D.J.'s Extended Twin Cities Forecast

MONDAY: A few afternoon storms. Wake up 70. High 87. Chance of precipitation 50%. Wind NE 5 mph.

TUESDAY: Cloudy. Western/southern MN storms. Wake up 65. High 81. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind E 5-10 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Decreasing clouds. West MN isolated shower. Wake up 62. High 79. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SE 5-10 mph.

FRIDAY: Clouds increase. Late day storm chance. Wake up 61. High 83. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind SW 5-10 mph.

SATURDAY: Sun/cloud mix. Southern MN PM storm? Wake up 64. High 81. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NE 5-15 mph.

SUNDAY: Mainly sunny and nice! Wake up 60. High 79. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NE 5-15 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
June 5th

*Most Sunlight In A Day: June 21st (15 hours, 36 minutes, 51 seconds)
*Earliest Sunrises Of The Year: June 13th-17th (5:25 AM)
*Earliest Sunsets Of The Year: June 21st-July 2nd (9:03 PM)
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This Day in Weather History
June 5th

1930: Heavy rain falls at Waseca. 4.3 inches of rain would fall over 24 hours.

1915: This date marks the first of a long stretch of days of measurable rain at Winton near Ely. Measurable rain would fall on each day until 19th. The total amount of rain for the fifteen days was over six inches.

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Scattered areas of heavy rain are expected through Tuesday across the nation, with some 2"+ amounts possible from the Rockies into the Southern Plains, across southern Florida, and in the Northeast.

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Without chief heat officers, how can smaller cities respond to extreme heat?

More from Smart Cities Dive: "With summer on the horizon, cities nationwide are bracing themselves for extreme heat events — along with the deadly and unjust impacts that follow. But what does effective preparation look like as climate change brings more frequent, intense heat waves? City leaders are still in the early stages of figuring that part out, according to Ladd Keith, assistant professor of planning and sustainable built environments at the University of Arizona. Smart Cities Dive spoke with Keith about the single event that triggered cities nationwide to reconsider their heat responses, whether every city needs to hire a chief heat officer and what cities can do this summer to protect residents from blistering temperatures."

How Climate Scientists Predict India's All-Important Monsoon Rains

Little-Known Microbes Could Help Predict Climate Tipping Points

More from Duke University: "Researchers studying a group of widespread but often overlooked microbes have identified a climate feedback loop that could accelerate climate change. But it's not all bad news: this one comes with an early warning signal. Using a computer simulation, a team of scientists from Duke University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, showed that most of the world's ocean plankton and many other single-celled creatures in lakes, peatlands and other ecosystems could cross a threshold where instead of soaking up carbon dioxide, they start doing the opposite. That's because of how warming affects their metabolism. Because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, that in turn could drive up temperatures further — a positive feedback loop that could lead to runaway change, where small amounts of warming have an outsized impact. But by carefully monitoring the abundances of these organisms, we might be able to anticipate the tipping point before it gets here, the researchers report in a study published June 1 in the journal Functional Ecology."

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