Updraft: July 13, 2012 Archive

Aurora Alert; Heat wave builds this weekend; 95 to 100+ degrees again

Posted at 9:25 PM on July 13, 2012 by Paul Huttner (2 Comments)
Filed under: Astronomy, Heat

Solar storm heading for earth this weekend

91 degrees - high at MSP Airport Friday

18th day so far in 2012 of 90+ degree heat

"Hottest" in 5 years since we've recorded more 90+ degree days (27 days in 2007)

"Hot Front/Heat Storm" heat builds this weekend

95 to 100+ degrees possible Sunday & Monday PM

Source: NASA/spaceweather.com

Aurora Alert: Incoming CME

Huge sunspot AR 1520 has unleashed a (big) X-Class "earth directed" CME. The wave should hit earth's magnetosphere early Saturday morning according to NASA & spaceweather.com.

X-FLARE! Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th. Because the sunspot is directly facing Earth, everything about the blast was geoeffective. For one thing, it hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) directly toward our planet. According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab,

The CME launched toward Earth by yesterday's X-flare is moving faster than originally thought. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab have revised their forecast accordingly, advancing the cloud's expected arrival time to 09:17 UT (5:17 am EDT) on Saturday, July 14th. Weekend auroras are likely.

Source: NASA

Be alert for overnight and early morning northern lights this weekend!

MAX/MIN TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION TABLE FOR MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
719 PM CDT FRI JUL 13 2012

VALUES REPRESENT LOWS OVER THE LAST 18 HOURS...
HIGHS OVER THE LAST 18 HOURS AND PRECIPITATION OVER THE
LAST 24 HOURS

DLH : DULUTH MN : 85 / 70 / T
INL : INTERNATIONAL FALLS MN : 77 / 65 / 2.85
MSP : MINNEAPOLIS MN : 91 / 67 / 0.96
RST : ROCHESTER MN : 84 / 68 / 0.38
STC : ST CLOUD MN : 88 / 64 / 0.05
AXN : ALEXANDRIA MN : 87 / 65 / 0.00
GNA : GRAND MARAIS MN : 79 / 66 / 0.00
HIB : HIBBING MN : 84 / 66 / 0.23
RWF : REDWOOD FALLS MN : 94 / 67 / 0.00

Heat builds this weekend: 100 degrees possible again

This summer is starting to remind me of one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes; The Midnight Sun.

Okay so maybe it's not quite as dramatic as Lois Nettleton makes it seem in the episode, but the oppressive, "Arizona style" heat is coming back again.

The modes differ (as usual) about just how hot it will get Sunday & Monday, but there is every indication that 95 to 100+ degrees is likely again both days...with the hottest day likely Monday.

Source: Iowa State University

The NAM is cranking out 97 for MSP Sunday, and the tried and true "850 millibar mix down technique" we used in operational forecasting labs like Chicago's Weather Command yields 100 to 105 Monday. Lows may not dip below 80 degrees Sunday night. Yikes!

Either way, after a warm but tolerable Saturday near 90 it's going to get really, really hot again Sunday & Monday.

Source: Paul Huttner-MPR News

This is serious heat. Be sure to check on your elderly friends, relatives & neighbors. And don't even think of leaving Fido or your kids in the car for even a minute in this kind of searing heat!

PH

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