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Updraft: November 10, 2009 Archive

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Minnesota: Drier than Arizona today

Posted at 8:31 AM on November 10, 2009 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)

Welcome to the Scandinavian Desert.

Our air mass over Minnesota today is drier than in the deserts of Arizona. This happens occasionally, most often during the winter months when air masses from the Arctic Circle invade from the north.

2xmw_dp.gif

It's interesting to note that dew points are in the 20s and teens today over parts of Minnesota. The dew point in the Twin Cities was 26 degrees at 7am today while in Phoenix, Arizona it was 35. That means there was more moisture in the air mass over Phoenix than in the Twin Cities this morning.

sw_dp.gif

The desert dry air leads to big daily temperature swings. Dry air heats and cools much more readily than moist air. The result can be big "diurnal variations." That's the difference between the morning low and afternoon high temperature each day.

The Twin Cities average temperatures for today are 43 and 28. That's an average dirunal variation of just 15 degrees. With 31 in the Twin Cities this morning and a dry air mass with full sunshine, we'll likely hit close to 60 today. So that's a temperature swing of nearly 30 degrees, or twice the average diurnal variation thanks to the dry air mass overhead.

Get used to the mild dry weather. It appears it will hold through most of this week before our shower chances increase a bit by Friday. It appears a wet storm will pass to our south early next week, and we will resume our stretch of dry tranquil November weather.

Today could be day 5 in a row at or above 60 in the metro. We'll have another shot at 60 tomorrow. We're running a full 8 degrees above average so far in November.

Enjoy!

PH

(1 Comments)

Crop Report: Warm dry weather boosts harvest

Posted at 2:51 PM on November 10, 2009 by Paul Huttner

It's been a tough weather year for Minnesota farmers.

After a dicey growing season began with drought and a cool summer, crops finally matured nicely with a late season burst of heat in September. Then just as farmers were ready to get out and begin the harvest, the rains came in October.

Wet fields have slowed this year's harvest significantly. Last year at this time, 83% of the Minnesota's corn crop was in the bin.Today's Minnesota crop report shows farmers are playing catch up. Only 23% of the corn crop has been harvested so far.

The good news this week is with the soybean crop. Our mild dry start to November has allowed farmers to catch up. So far 77% of the soybean crop is in the bin. That's still below the 5-year average of 98% by this date, but it's good progress. Last week 4.8 days were considered suitable for field work in the state.

Our mild dry November is off to another good start this week. It appears most of this week will be sunny and dry, and that should allow for muddy fields to firm up a bit. I would expect that next weeks harvest numbers will look even better. The CPC 6 to 10 day outlook looks warmer than average.

610temp_new.gif

The 8 to 14 day precip outlook from CPC also looks drier than average.

814prcp_new.gif

Hopefully the combination of warm and dry November weather will get the crops in the bank by Thanskgiving.

We've had a string of some pretty good years for crops in Minnesota. I think many will remember 2009 as a year that made a good crop something to appreciate.

PH

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