The smoke map from Tuesday showed widespread smoke continuing across Canada and spilling into much of the Central US including the Upper Midwest. This will make for somewhat cloudy/hazy skies and poor air quality for some into the week ahead.

The smoke analysis by midday Tuesday shows widespread smoke overhead across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes Region thanks to wildfires burning in Canada. This will make skies smoky and hazy through much of the day with unhealthy air qualities.

Our last full week of May looks somewhat tame across the Midwest through the first part of the week with mild and smokey sunshine. There could be a few stray t-showers here and there midweek, but there will be a better chance of more widespread rain and thunder across the Dakotas this upcoming weekend.

The precipitation outlook through mid-week doesn't appear to be all that impressive with some locations seeing 0.25" to 0.50" tallies across the northern part of the state. Much of southern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities could be completely dry.

The weather outlook for the Twin Cities on Wednesday, May 24th shows another sunny and mild day with highs warming into the upper 60s. Thanks to Canadian wildfires, skies will be fairly smoky/hazy with some air quality concerns across parts of the state

Temps on Wednesday will be nearly +10F to +15F above average across the Dakotas with highs warming mainly into the 80s, which is more like mid-June standards. However, readings north and east of the Twin Cities will be quite a bit below average with a wind off of Lake Superior.

The hourly temps through the day Wednesday show temps starting around 60F in the morning and warming into the mid/upper 60s by the afternoon. Skies will generally be sunny with an easterly wind around 20mph to 25mph at times.

Temperatures will be quite a bit cooler on Wednesday with readings down into the 60s before rebounding into the 70s and 80s through the rest of the week and weekend ahead.

The extended weather outlook for the Twin Cities looks mainly dry, but cooler on Wednesday with a gradually warming trend through the week ahead and into the weekend. Much of the extended outlook look dry.

The NBM extended temperature outlook for Minneapolis shows a weak cool front dropping temps to around 70F midweek, but a gradual warming trend gets us back to the 80F mark by the last weekend of the month.

A fairly large bubble of high pressure will settle in across the Great Lakes late this week, which will keep skies generally quiet. On the western edge of this high-pressure system, winds will turn more southerly and warm things up in the Midwest late week/weekend ahead.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14-day temperature outlook shows warmer-than-average temperatures settling in across the northern tier of the nation and especially across the Midwest and the Great Lakes. Cooler than average temps will be in place across parts of the Southwestern US.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14 Day precipitation outlook shows more active weather possible across The Plains and the Southern US.

I hate to burst your bubble, but there is no such thing as "heat lightning". Heat triggers warm" thermals" of moist, rapidly rising air which can bubble up into cumulonimbus clouds, but heat lightning is a misnomer. Flickering visible at night is merely a distant thunderstorm, in some cases 100-300 miles away - too far away to hear the thunder.

And if anyone asks, the Minnesota Arrowhead is the least tornado-prone part of the state, thanks in large part to cool, stable winds blowing off Lake Superior. Big tornadoes are much more likely over far southern and western Minnesota.

Nothing severe in sight into early next week as weather systems stall; a "blocking pattern" in the atmosphere will keep showers and T-storms west of Minnesota into Memorial Day.

I know, a dry holiday weekend, statewide? Quick, run out and buy a Lotto ticket. Temperatures hold in the 60s today, but I see a run of 80s starting on Saturday and continuing into next week.

All 2weeks of spring were glorious. It's time for summer.

WEDNESDAY: Clouds, cool breeze. Winds: E 10-20. High 68.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy. Winds: ESE 10-15. Low: 50.

THURSDAY: Plenty of sunshine. Winds: SE 10-20. High 73.

FRIDAY: Sunny and milder. Winds: SE 10-15. Wake-up: 52. High 77.

SATURDAY: Sunny and spectacular. Winds: S 8-13. Wake-up: 55. High: 80.

SUNDAY: Hazy sunshine, smoke stays north. Winds: SE 5-10. Wake-up: 58. High: 83.

MONDAY: Warm sun, lake-worth Memorial Day. Winds: SE 5-10. Wake-up: 61. High: 85.

TUESDAY: Sticky with a stray T-storm. Winds: SE 5-10. Wake-up: 64. High: 87.

May 24th

1925: After seeing a high of 99 degrees two days earlier, the Twin Cities picks up a tenth (.10) of an inch of snow.

1908: Tornadoes hit the counties of Martin and Blue Earth.

May 24th

Average High: 72F (Record: 95F set in 2010)

Average Low: 53F (Record: 32F set in 1925)

Record Rainfall: 2.58" set in 2012

Record Snowfall: Trace set in 1924

May 24th

Sunrise: 5:35am

Sunset: 8:44pm

Hours of Daylight: ~15 hours & 09 minutes

Daylight GAINED since yesterday: +1 Minute & 52 Seconds

Daylight GAINED since Winter Solstice (December 21st): ~ 6 hour & 23 minutes

2.3 Days Before First Quarter Moon

Temperatures on Wednesday will be very mild across the High Plains, where readings will be nearly +10F to +15F above average. It'll be a little cooler in the Midwest but not too terribly cold.

The weather outlook on Wednesday will be unsettled across the Plains with a few spotty t-storms.

The weather outlook through Thursday shows spotty showers and storms developing across the Plains and also in the Southeastern US. There could be a few isolated strong to severe storms here and there, but it won't be too widespread.

According to NOAA's Weather Prediction Center, the extended precipitation outlook shows heavier precipitation across parts of the Central Plains and also the Southeastern US. A few locations could see 1" to 3" of rain over the next several days.

"An updated, authoritative United Nations disasters analysis out this morning shows there were nearly 12,000 disasters attributable to extreme weather and climate-related events during the 1970-2021 period, Andrew writes. The big picture: Such disasters are becoming more expensive, with a total bill of $4.3 trillion and rising. At the same time, however, they are getting less deadly. The pattern of disasters spotlights global inequality, with 90% of the slightly more than 2 million deaths during this period taking place in developing countries. However, the vast majority of economic losses stemmed from industrialized countries. Climate change is influencing the frequency and severity of certain extreme weather and climate events, particularly heat waves, extreme precipitation events and tropical cyclones. However, climate change is not thought to be the biggest driver of disaster loss trends, other research has found. Zoom in: The update to the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water-related hazards, extends the disaster metrics to 51 years."

See more from Axios HERE:

"You can only talk about how hot it is during the summer so much before the word starts to lose its meaning. So here are 13 colorful terms of yore that will help you describe your sweaty suffering all season long. 1. Adurent A heat wave amid a drought could be called "adurent," a 17th-century term for "burning; hot and dry," according to the Oxford English Dictionary. 2. and 3. Besweat and Forswat Why say you're "covered with sweat" when you can say you're "besweat" or "forswat"? 4. Birsle Birsle is a Scottish verb meaning "to scorch (the surface) with radiant heat," per the OED. You might be birsled after a day at the beach with no sunscreen."

See more from Mental Floss HERE:

"When the 2021-'22 season puttered to a close last spring, the National Ski Areas Association's announcement that skier visits were at a record high was, frankly, surprising. It had been a very average snow year, and the resorts were still recovering from pandemic problems such as staffing and supply chain issues. But still, skiers wanted to get outside and ski, and numbers were up 3.5 percent over the previous season. Today, the NSAA released skier visits for the current season that's still going (relatively) strong, with 20 resorts still spinning their lifts in early May, and it's more good news for the ski industry. Preliminary numbers show an impressive 6.6 percent increase over the 2021-'22 ski season. Of course, this season has been much different than last, with record snow totals across much of the west, resorts extending their seasons—multiple times in some places—and improved staffing across the board. Here's a deeper dive into what the numbers mean and the impact it could have on next season."

See more from Outside HERE: