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00:00Well, record-breaking heat yesterday, and that heat continues the next few days.
00:04More records likely to fall today, and that hot, dry weather creating critical fire weather conditions and also some air quality issues.
00:20Yeah, it was pretty incredible yesterday.
00:23Unusually early heat, first 90 in the Twin Cities, comes about three weeks earlier than normal,
00:28and numerous records broken yesterday across the state.
00:32Halleck, Minnesota, the warm spot, unusual that we're talking about that area.
00:36100 degrees yesterday, and that was not an outlier.
00:40Much of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota was in the upper 90s to near 100 degrees.
00:44This is a snapshot of temperatures at about 4 p.m. yesterday.
00:48We were 90 degrees, the only place not hot, right near Lake Superior, of course, but really just incredible.
00:55And over the last seven days, we've got a bullseye here in North America right over Minnesota and the Dakotas
01:00as far as the warmest temperatures relative to our normals this time here.
01:04Red flag warning, low humidity, high winds again today.
01:08We already are seeing some wildfires going across the state, and these conditions are not helpful for that.
01:13We're going to see relative humidity values drop into the teens percentage-wise again this afternoon.
01:17Yesterday, parts of western Minnesota had single-digit relative humidities, just about 7-8 percent, and gusty winds too.
01:24Highest winds in the west, so the most critical areas are going to be western Minnesota again today and probably tomorrow too.
01:31And to add to it, we've got an air quality alert, but not from wildfire smoke.
01:34This is for ozone, which is good in the upper atmosphere, not in the lower atmosphere.
01:39As our car exhaust and other pollutants get kind of trapped here in the lower atmosphere, it reacts with sunshine and heat, so it builds through the day.
01:47So good air quality in the morning, but air quality diminishes in the afternoon.
01:51We're going to be back in the 80s and 90s today, and still a couple more days of that.
01:55More sunshine with it as well.
01:58But you notice that pressure gradient, those yellow lines here, those are the pressure lines or isobars.
02:02When they're bunched together, we have high winds.
02:04So we're going to see that again today and tomorrow as well.
02:07Way above normal, anywhere from about 20 to 30 degrees above normal today.
02:12Looks like the records that will fall today, mostly northern Minnesota, Duluth, Brainerd, Hibbing, International Falls, probably Grand Forks again.
02:19Our records are into the 90s now in the Twin Cities, so we're probably going to be just shy of that today and tomorrow.
02:24But upper 80s, 90s in the west again tomorrow, probably Wednesday too before that pattern starts to break down and shift here,
02:32which is good news that this is not going to keep going or we would be sliding into drought really fast.
02:38Much needed moisture coming here, it looks like, late in the week.
02:40So that heat dome or upper level ridge moving east, big upper level trough helping to kick things along.
02:46And this is going to create a stormier setup.
02:48It's going to allow dew points to increase.
02:49We'll get some Gulf of Mexico moisture.
02:51Already by Wednesday, it won't be nearly as dry.
02:54Dew points will be in the 50s.
02:55And by Wednesday night, Thursday, 60s dew points potentially moving into southern Minnesota.
03:00That will help to produce showers and thunderstorms that we're going to desperately need by that point after a few more very hot, windy, dry days.
03:06So those will develop in the Dakotas Wednesday and then push east Wednesday night into Thursday.
03:12And then this is going to be an upper level low, so it means kind of moisture will wrap around into Friday, some lingering showers, maybe even into early Saturday too.
03:20So a cloudier, cooler stretch with some moisture.
03:23We do need it by then too.
03:25Looks like the heaviest rainfall is going to be northern Minnesota where we could see over an inch of rain.
03:29Those rainfall totals may be dropping off a little bit more in southern Minnesota.
03:32But either way, looks like almost all the states should get at least some rain here on Thursday.
03:38And again, by then we're really going to need it.
03:40Look at the difference.
03:41Temperature is Friday.
03:4250s only in northern Minnesota.
03:44Places like Halleck that were 100 yesterday will be about 50 degrees cooler.
03:48And those are below normal temperatures for Friday.
03:50It looks like it will stay cooler than normal through the weekend and into early next week.
03:53Several days of cooler weather.
03:55Give you a break here from this unusually early heat.
03:59Earliest 90 degree reading yesterday in nine years.
04:0287 today.
04:04Maybe a shot at 90 again tomorrow.
04:06We'll be close.
04:07Upper 80s, more sunshine.
04:08Again, the dew points start to increase Wednesday.
04:10That'll help out with the fire threat.
04:12And then much needed moisture Thursday.
04:14Might squeeze out another 80 if we can get enough sun.
04:17But after that, we're in for a cooler stretch.
04:19Normal high by the weekend is about 70.
04:21And we're going to be below that.
04:23Which is probably okay for many people.
04:26You don't quite want a heat wave yet in early May.
04:29Things are trying to green up out there.
04:30And it's not healthy for our ecosystems.