Douglas: ‘Aug-tober’ brings 70s and 80s the next two weeks

“The wets are wetter and dries are drier” a farmer near Fairmont told me recently when asked about the impact of climate change in his fields. After one of the wettest summers on record, who would have predicted precipitation falling off a cliff in September?

According to Dr. Brian Brettschneider, September was the driest on record (back to 1895) for much of Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and Nebraska. While a weakening Hurricane Helene dumped historic amounts of rain on the southeastern U.S., the Associated Press reports 40 trillion gallons of water fell — enough to fill more than 60 million Olympic-size swimming pools, 51,000 Dallas Cowboys stadiums, or just one Lake Tahoe. All or nothing.

The fire risk is growing across Minnesota, especially up north — and I don’t see any rain into mid-October. The European weather model shows mostly 70s and a few 80s during the next two weeks.

Welcome to “Aug-tober.” I’ll bet a half-eaten Jucy Lucy from Matt’s Bar and Grill in Minneapolis that we’ll stay milder than average into November.