Record-Breaking Upper Midwest Heat – National Weather Outlook For June 6, 2021

Saturday Was A Record-Breaking Day

While many thermometers – including the Blaine airport – saw highs at or above 100F on Saturday, MSP airport missed it by *holds fingers close together* that much. The high at MSP topped off at 99F, setting a new record for the day as the previous record was 92F. Several other locations across the state saw record highs, with records in the 100s out into South Dakota.

Here are all the airport locations across the state that were able to hit 100F. The warmest high was out in Madison, where the thermometer reached 106F. However, it was a dry heat, as the peak heat index value there was only 102F.

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100F Degree Days In The Twin Cities

The table above only shows 100F degree days since 2000 in the Twin Cities.

Between 1872 and 2020, the Twin Cities has recorded 66 days with a high of 100F or greater. Five of those days have occurred since 2000, with the most recent occurring on Memorial Day 2018 when the high hit 100F.

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Twin Cities Longer Heat Waves On/Before June 15th Are Not Common

This stretch of early-season heat will go down in the record book for more than just the record highs that have been set. The Minnesota State Climatology Department complied some early-season (occurring on or before June 15th) heat stats, and only found five times in Twin Cities history where there have been at least five consecutive days with a high of 90F or greater. The most on record are six in a row, set three times – most recently between May 24-29, 2018, which included the earliest 100F on record on Memorial Day 2018. If highs do remain at or above 90F through Wednesday as the current forecast shows, that would tie for the longest early-season stretch on record.

That forecast through Wednesday would also put us tied for 10th place in most 90F+ degree highs that have occurred on or before June 15th at six.

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National Weather Forecast

On Sunday, a frontal boundary in the upper Midwest could spark off a few strong storms, particularly late in the day. A cold front across New England will also help to produce thunder activity. Scattered showers and storms will be possible from the Colorado Rockies through the central and southern Plains into the Ohio Valley and Southeast states. Meanwhile, a new system approaching the Northwest will bring rain and some higher elevation flakes of snow.

While a few record highs will still be possible Sunday in the upper Midwest, most of the record potential will move into the Northeast.

The Gulf Coast will continue to get battered by heavy rain through the beginning of the work week, with the potential of 3”+ of rain for areas of Louisiana and Mississippi including New Orleans. This area of the national really doesn’t need to see any more rain at the moment, as they saw gobs and gobs of rain fall during the month of May. Since the beginning of the year (through Friday), New Orleans has received 42.56” of rain – 17.10” ABOVE the average for the year so far!

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How to watch the ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse on Thursday

More from LiveScience: “In the first solar eclipse of the year, the moon will almost entirely block the sun, leaving only a fiery ring of Earth’s star visible Thursday (June 10) morning. Skygazers in just a few places — in parts of Canada, Greenland and northern Russia — will be able to spot this fiery ring, also known as an annular eclipse, according to NASA. However, a partial solar eclipse — when the moon takes a circular “bite” out of the sun — will be visible in more areas of the Northern Hemisphere, including parts of the eastern United States and northern Alaska, much of Canada, and parts of the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and northern Africa, NASA reported.”

‘Glaciers’ on Mars could point to perfect landing site for humans

More from CNET: “Water is life, whether you’re a human on Earth or the first person to set foot on Mars. If Mars settlements are going to happen, human explorers will need to get water supplies from Mars itself. A new study of possible “glaciers” on the red planet points to an area that it says could be “perfect for future Mars landings.” Scientists have been researching subsurface ice on Mars for years and have already put forward the idea of matching up ice formations and potential landing sites for future human visitors. In 2019, NASA released a “treasure map” of water ice deposits, some of which could possibly be reached with a shovel. Arcadia Planitia was on NASA’s list of hot spots for ice. The new study, led by planetary geologists at Western University in Canada, helps to dial in a potential site for landing a spacecraft in this region.”

NASA Has Spotted Sneaky Methane Emissions From the Biggest Oilfield in America

More from Gizmodo: “There’s no such thing as easy climate fixes, but when it comes to methane emissions from oil and gas production, a couple of little patches could go a long way. A new study suggests that just 123 sites in the Permian Basin in Texas could be responsible for a huge chunk of the region’s accidental methane leaks—and that fixing the problems at those sites could slash emissions by an incredible amount. Oil and gas production in the Permian has exploded over the past decade, quadrupling in output between 2011 and 2019; the Energy Information Administration now says that 38% of U.S. oil and 17% of its gas is now produced in the region. This increase in production has been accompanied by a surge of methane into the atmosphere. Because production is expanding so rapidly, and because wells and other production facilities have leaks operators might not know about, it’s been difficult to quantify how much methane these facilities are actually emitting.”

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Thanks for checking in and have a great day! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter (@dkayserwx) and like me on Facebook (Meteorologist D.J. Kayser).

– D.J. Kayser