KMSP - What a weekend! 3 consecutive days in the 90s… that has NEVER happened so late in the year. While Friday’s high of 94° wasn’t a record, we tied the 90° record on Saturday & broke the 89° record on Sunday. But it wasn’t just high temperatures that were warm, we broke overnight low maximum temperatures as well as lows sat in the low 70s… one of the latest times in the year we have ever had a low in the 70s on a calendar day. In fact, the metro has been warmer than many southern cities over the last 3 days, including Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta.
This brings the total number of days that the metro has had highs at or above 90° to 14, right at our 30 year average. But what’s unusual, is that we have seen just as many of these days in spring and fall as we had in the summer. Early to mid-June, while considered by many to be in the summer is actually still in astronomical spring and experienced a few 90° days. Same goes for the latter part of September, aka the last 3 days.
While our heat wave is done, and we are quite likely done with the hot and humid weather for the year, longer range computer models are hinting at a fairly mild couple weeks ahead with normal or above normal temperatures likely. This means that the 60s, 70s, and maybe even some 80s are here to stay for a while.