Quiet Seasonable Weather Into Next Week

The National Weather Service in Chanhassen has been taking a look at the storms from last week that hit the metro (even knocked out my power in the northwestern metro for a few moments), and found that - besides a lot of plain wind damage - there was a tornado that was on the ground for less than a mile southeast of Buffalo/northwest of Rockford in Wright County.

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It's been an interesting Fall weather week here in the metro - going from three days of record highs from Saturday to Monday (including the warmest October day on record last Sunday) to near average in the middle of the week - and then (while not shown) highs that were near double-digits below average values on Friday.

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A good chunk of northern Minnesota is near or past peak, with most of the rest of the state at least 25-50% turned according to the latest update from the Minnesota DNR Fall Color Finder. The weather (windy and rainy) is definitely taking a toll on some of the leaves across the state - and frosty weather will help that continue over the next several days. Bear Head Lake State Park reported on Friday that, "Sadly, just like that, the most colorful autumn displays are past peak at Bear Head Lake State Park. The area had many gusty days combined with rain and hail causing many of the leaves to find their forever home on the forest floor. There are still pockets of aspen leaves which are making like A New Kid on the Block, Hanging Tough, however they have lost their autumn POP and are presenting a muted phase of yellow."

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For those with outdoor plants, make sure you either bring them inside or cover them up Friday night in western and northern Minnesota as frost and freeze concerns are in place. The heart of the metro looks to stay warm enough - but more frosty mornings are expected over the next several days... and, by early next week, that could include parts of the metro.

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While areas outside the metro could begin the morning with some frost on Saturday, we'll bottom out in the low 40s with highs eventually climbing to the low/mid-50s. There will be sunnier skies in the morning, with clouds increasing throughout the afternoon hours.

A few scattered rain showers are possible in northern Minnesota on Saturday, otherwise, a mix of sun and clouds can be expected across the state with highs in the 40s and 50s.

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Sunday: We'll see a touch warmer weather on Sunday with a mix of sun and clouds expected. Highs climb into the upper 50s after starting the day in the mid-40s.

Monday: Breezier conditions will exist with cooler temperatures as well and a sun/cloud mix once again for the holiday. I do believe we'll be able to reach the low to mid-50s for highs.

Highs in the 50s are mostly expected for the upcoming week. There's the possibility we could climb back to near 60F as we head into the mid-month timeframe. What's also important to note here is that lows look to dip into the mid/upper 30s Monday through Wednesday mornings at MSP - so we might have to contend with the first frost of the season even in the heart of the metro.

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Quiet Seasonable Weather Into Next Week
By D.J. Kayser, filling in for Paul Douglas

I've recently been out looking at the fantastic fall colors across the state, and upon returning home noticed my lawn needs a haircut - badly. Over the course of nearly two weeks (Sept. 23 through Thursday), 5.23" of rain has fallen at MSP. To find the most recent time frame of comparable precipitation, you have to go back to the period spanning July 3 to Sept. 22 during which 5.50" fell – a little over two and a half months. Despite this rain, we still have a mix of Abnormally Dry to Severe Drought conditions across the metro according to the Drought Monitor.

October-like weather continues through the weekend into next week, with mainly 50s for highs. Frosty overnight lows could even start to encroach the metro early next week. Additional precipitation chances look low over the next seven days.

90-degree highs are likely over for the year. The latest on record was Oct. 10, 1928. Nevertheless, there have been seven years in which the last 90F occurred after the first sub-40F low in the metro.

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D.J.'s Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SATURDAY: Increasing clouds. Wake up 42. High 54. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NW 5-10 mph.

SUNDAY: Some clouds, especially in the morning. Wake up 44. High 58. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind E 5-10 mph.

MONDAY: Breezy. Sun/cloud mix. Wake up 40. High 54. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind N 10-15 mph.

TUESDAY: Morning metro frost? Mainly sunny. Wake up 37. High 55. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NW 8-13 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Scattered cloud cover. Wake up 39. High 57. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NE 5-10 mph.

THURSDAY: Cloudy. System passes to our south. Wake up 43. High 56. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NW 10-15 mph.

FRIDAY: Friday the 13th. Isolated sprinkle? Wake up 42. High 55. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind N 8-13 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
October 7th

*Length Of Day: 11 hours, 24 minutes, and 20 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 3 minutes and 5 seconds

*When Do We Drop Below 11 Hours Of Sunlight? October 15th (10 hours, 59 minutes, 51 seconds)
*When Are Sunrises At/After 7:30 AM? October 17th (7:31 AM)
*When Are Sunsets At/Before 6:30 PM? October 14th (6:30 PM)
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This Day in Weather History
October 7th

2003: Record high temperatures are seen across the area. St. Cloud's high is 86 degrees. Minneapolis ties their record high of 85 degrees set in 1997, and Alexandria sets their record high of 88 degrees. Forest Lake reaches a record-setting 82 degrees, along with Stillwater at 84 degrees.

1980: Summer-like heat occurs over Minnesota with highs of 92 at Montevideo and 84 at MSP airport.

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A system in the Northeast on Saturday will produce showers and thunderstorms, with additional rain back into the Great Lakes as well due to another system across southern Canada. Otherwise, maybe a few storms are possible in far southern Texas and southern Florida - with quiet weather elsewhere.

New England will see drenching rains through the weekend - not only due to that storm across the region, but post-tropical Philippe moving in for the second half of the timeframe. Some areas could easily see 3-6" which could lead to flooding.

Philippe in the Atlantic has finally gone post-tropical but still looks to impact New England as we head into the weekend with the potential of heavy rains that could cause flash flooding.

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An Epic Fight Over What Really Killed the Dinosaurs

More from WIRED: "Think back to any dinosaur illustration you saw as a kid. The background was almost certainly one of two things: an asteroid streaking across the sky or a volcano blowing its top. (If the illustrator was feeling extra dramatic, maybe both.) A 6-mile-wide asteroid, which hit the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago, obliterated any nearby dinos and filled the sky with material that plunged the planet into a species-dooming winter. But don't sell those volcanoes short. A growing body of geological evidence is suggesting that the dinosaurs were already enduring climatic chaos before the asteroid, thanks to huge, relentless volcanism in India's Deccan Traps. For 300,000 years before impact, and for another 500,000 after it, these volcanoes emitted vast clouds of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Even when they weren't actively erupting, they were doing "pre-eruptive" degassing. The CO2 heated the planet—as humanity's emissions are doing today—and the SO2 cooled it by reflecting some of the sun's energy back into space. The back-and-forth created a climatic whiplash that drove a mass extinction. So the asteroid wasn't a singular Grim Reaper for the dinosaurs, but the coup de grâce that sealed their fate. At least, that's how the theory goes."

Offshore wind turbines need rare earth metals. Will there be enough to go around?

More from Grist: "For more than a decade, an Australian company called Arafura Rare Earths has been looking for customers willing to buy rare earth metals from a mine under development in the nation's Northern Territory. In April, it secured one of its biggest clients yet. Siemens Gamesa, one of the largest offshore wind turbine makers in the world, signed an agreement to purchase hundreds of tons of rare earths from Arafura, beginning in 2026, to make giant magnets for its seagoing turbines. The reason a major manufacturer entered a contract with a mining company that isn't mining anything yet? As CEO Jochen Eickholt told Reuters, Siemens Gamesa is almost 100 percent reliant on China for rare earth magnets — and its customers want to change that."

Huge new wind turbines face backlash

More from E&E News: "When the Interior Department in late August approved construction of a wind farm off the Rhode Island coast, it imposed an unusual restriction on the developer — do not use the most powerful turbines. The order reflects a critical juncture facing the offshore wind industry, which could provide three times the amount of electricity that the entire U.S. now generates, according to the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. As the Biden administration boosts offshore wind to help meet its climate targets, developers are trying to make wind power inexpensive by installing increasingly large and powerful turbines aimed at improving efficiency."

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Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

- D.J. Kayser