Cold Start For Black Friday Shopping - Flurries Sunday?

Quiet and clear weather is expected for any Black Friday in-person shopping on Friday in the metro. While temperatures will start in the mid to upper teens if you're out before sunrise for any "big deals" (feeling like the single digits), highs will climb to the upper 20s.

Looking statewide, a few clouds will be possible at times in northern and southern Minnesota; otherwise, quiet and sunny weather is expected. Highs will mainly be in the 20s across the state, though a few 30-degree readings will be possible in spots.

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Saturday: A mainly cloudy day is expected on Saturday with highs in the low to mid-30s. Winds will be out of the southwest at 5-10 mph.

Sunday: Another day with mainly cloudy skies as highs climb into the low to mid-30s. A few flurries can't be ruled out. Winds will turn to be out of the northwest on Sunday with gusts to 30 mph.

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Highs somewhat typical of late November will close out the month here in the metro as mainly 30s are expected through next week. The coolest day will be Monday with a dip into the 20s behind a cold front. By next weekend, highs could climb back to around 40F. While there could be a few scattered precipitation chances next week, I'm not tracking anything major right now. For those who want to get out and participate in outdoor winter activities... snow is the only thing missing at this point!

With the holiday on Thursday, this week's drought update was issued on Wednesday by the USDA. Very little change occurred again this week in the status across the state, as only the abnormally dry category went up 0.04% - everything else stayed the same.

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Shopping For A Real Storm, With No Luck

By Paul Douglas

Have you seen UPS Santa? He (or she) is everywhere. I shop local, but like most mere mortals I order online, and then promptly forget what I ordered. Now every day is Christmas. Hey, I didn't know I ordered this! I have enough cardboard boxes in my garage to build a fort, which may be the only thing my grandson plays with this Christmas.

I'm amazed I can still SEE my lawn. According to the Twin Cities National Weather Service, November usually brings 1.41" liquid precipitation at MSP. So far this month? .02" liquid, and officially no measurable snow. This may turn into the driest November on record. Stupid El Nino.

Still no storms in sight but we'll see Sunday flurries. Wow.

30s this weekend, maybe 40F next week. That's the new definition of a "warm front".

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SATURDAY: Cloudy. No weather-drama. Wake up 29. High 32. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 10-15 mph.

SUNDAY: Flurries, maybe a coating south of MSP. Wake up 25. High 34. Chance of precipitation 70%. Wind NW 15-30 mph.

MONDAY: Mostly cloudy, a cold wind. Wake up 20. High 29. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NW 15-25 mph.

TUESDAY: Partly sunny skies. Wake up 18. High 33. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 7-12 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Blue skies, more tolerable. Wake up 27. High 40. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind W 10-15 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
November 24th

*Length Of Day: 9 hours, 14 minutes, and 28 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 1 minute and 57 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)
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This Day in Weather History
November 24th

1983: A snowstorm dumps almost two feet at Babbitt and about 20 inches at Duluth.

1825: A warm spell begins over Ft. Snelling. The temperature rises up to 70 degrees.

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If you're trying to go shopping on Black Friday, we are tracking three main areas of precipitation across the nation. The most prominent will be a storm in the Rockies and Central Plains, bringing heavy snow to the region. We'll also watch some snow chances in the Great Lakes and New England and rain in Florida and along the Southeast seaboard. Scattered areas of rain are also possible in southern Texas and southern Louisiana.

Rain amounts in the southern United States through Saturday will be less than an inch or two. Most precipitation out in the western United States will be in the form of snowfall.

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Scientists said the ozone hole was recovering. That good news was premature, one study claims

More from CNN: "The recovery of the ozone layer — which sits miles above the Earth and protects the planet from ultraviolet radiation — has been celebrated as one of the world's greatest environmental achievements. But in a new study published Tuesday, some scientists claim it may not be recovering at all, and that the hole may even be expanding. The findings are in disagreement with widely accepted assessments of the ozone layer's status, including a recent UN-backed study that showed it would return to 1980s levels as soon as 2040. In 1987, several countries agreed to ban or phase down the use of more than 100 ozone-depleting chemicals that had caused a "hole" in the layer above Antarctica. The depletion is mainly attributed to the use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which were common in aerosol sprays, solvents and refrigerants."

EPA announces $2B for local environmental justice projects

More from Smart Cities Dive: "The Biden administration announced on Tuesday the availability of about $2 billion in grants for communities to deploy clean energy, boost climate resilience and address climate and environmental justice challenges. Local governments partnering with community-based nonprofits are eligible to apply for the Community Change Grants, which mark the "single largest investment in environmental justice going directly to communities in history," according to an Environmental Protection Agency news release. Federal climate funding has been criticized as difficult for less-resourced communities to access, and the grant program includes key elements to counter such challenges. That includes $200 million for technical assistance, an opportunity for applicants to orally present to the EPA, and a yearlong rolling application process that allows unselected applicants to try again with a new application. The final deadline to apply is Nov. 21, 2024."

More from Grist: "On a 20-acre parcel outside the tiny Southern California town of New Cuyama, a 1.5-megawatt solar farm uses the sun's rays to slowly charge nearly 600 batteries in nearby cabinets. At night, when energy demand rises, that electricity is sent to the grid to power homes with clean energy. To make renewable energy from intermittent sources like solar and wind available when it is most needed, it's becoming more common to use batteries to store the power as it's generated and transmit it later. But one thing about the Cuyama facility, which began operations this week, is less common: The batteries sending energy to the grid once powered electric vehicles. The SEPV Cuyama facility, located about two hours northeast of Santa Barbara, is the second hybrid storage facility opened by B2U Storage Solutions. Its first facility, just outside Los Angeles, uses 1,300 retired batteries from Honda Clarity and Nissan Leaf EVs to store 28 megawatt-hours of power, enough to power about 9,500 homes."

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- D.J. Kayser