Updraft: May 7, 2012 Archive

A nice break from the soggy weather

Posted at 5:43 PM on May 7, 2012 by Jon Gordon (1 Comments)

By Bill Endersen, meteorologist

Today we have been enjoying a refreshing break from the soggy weather of very early May. So far 4.23 inches of rain has been measured at the official site, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. That's an inch more than the average rainfall for an entire month of May. So lawns are growing like crazy.

Different Than Last Year

What a difference from a year ago today when I noted in my neighborhood that the first tree leaves were popping out in the urban canopy. This year the leaves began to pop so early that some trees were confused about what to do. As a result, the urban canopy has been developing sporadically.

Weather

But let's get back to the weather. Today there have been some isolated showers in northern Minnesota. The central and southern parts of the state have been comfy, and that pleasant weather will hold for this evening's Twins game at Target Field. The first-pitch temperature should be in the mid 60s. Temps will fall slowly toward the upper 50s during the game, and the breeze will diminish as well.

Tuesday will be mostly cloudy and cooler with scattered showers, a few thunderstorms and possibly a little pea-sized hail. Highs will be mainly in the mid to upper 50s. The next significant chance of showers and thunderstorms will be on Friday. As of now the weekend looks wonderful.

Evening Sky

Venus should be bright in the western sky after sunset. Watch as it sets north of the sunset point.

Later this evening look for a gorgeous moon to rise at 10:43 p.m. in the Twin Cities - a bit earlier south of the metro area and later to the north and west. It should be a lovely waning gibbous moon with 96 percent of its face lit.

NOAA Weather Radio

The National Weather Service has been installing and testing a new transmitter antenna for NOAA Weather Radio Station KEC-65 in St. Paul, which provides much of the metro area with severe weather warnings and information. So you might have lost that service at times today in parts of the central metro area as that project went on.

Sunspots

Ninety-some million miles away, one of the largest clusters of sunspots in years has developed. At least four dark storms in that part of the sun are larger than Earth. The northern lights season has about ended, but sunspots remain capable of emitting large amounts of energy. Check out Spaceweather to keep track of these things.

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