71 F. high in the Twin Cities Saturday.
78 F. average high on June 13.
76 F. high on June 13, 2014.
.07″ rain fell yesterday at MSP International Airport.
June 13, 1991: Lightning struck a tree at the U.S. Open golf tournament in Chaska, MN. One spectator was killed, and 6 people were injured.
June 13, 1968: The 13 mile long path of an F5 tornado took it directly through Tracy, MN. Nine people were killed and 111 homes destroyed. Farms outside of town were swept completely away, two of which had been hit by a tornado 44 years earlier.
June 13, 1930: Tornado hits Northfield area, heavy damage at Randolph. Source: MPX NWS.
If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans. If you want to make it rain – plan an outdoor event in June.
Northern USA: Limping Into Summer. A stubborn (zonal) jet stream pattern from Seattle to St. Paul will continue to pump frequent outbreaks of cooler, drier air into the northern USA, limiting just how hot it can get through the end of June. Meanwhile much of the nation will continue to simmer, from California to Kansas City, Atlanta and Washington D.C. as a heat-pump high pressure bubble stalls.
Completely Drought-Free. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows pockets of dry weather from Garrison and Hinckley to Duluth and far northern Minnesota, but the entire state is now drought-free. That was fast.
A Hot June 9th. Mark Seeley has details on Tuesday’s heat spike across the state in this week’s edition of Minnesota WeatherTalk: “Tuesday, June 9th brought southerly winds, plenty of sunshine and the warmest temperatures across the state since July of last year. Over 50 Minnesota climate stations reported daily high temperatures of 90°F or greater, topped by 99°F at a few locations. Some communities tied or set new high temperature records, including:
Watch Out For Flood-Damaged Cars Coming Out of Texas. More complications from the recent (biblical) floods in Texas. The Consumerist has some good advice – here’s a link and excerpt: “… When a car is destroyed in a flood and sold to be rebuilt or “salvaged,” there’s supposed to be a special notation on the title. That doesn’t always happen, or you may not realize what a different state’s salvage title notation looks like. How can you protect yourself from unknowingly buying a flood-damaged vehicle? First, check multiple sources when performing a background check on your vehicle: our mildew-free colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports recommend cross-checking multiple sources for signs that there’s been some shenanigans with the car’s title...”
The U.S. Produces More Oil Now Than Saudi Arabia, And Other Tectonic Shifts In The Energy Sector. Quartz has the jaw-dropping story – here’s an excerpt: “…Changes on the supply side should be pretty obvious. Thanks to controversial fracking techniques and massive investments in shale, the US has raised its oil output dramatically. It now produces more of the stuff than Saudi Arabia for the first time since 1991—a fact that gives an extra edge to the two countries’ battle for energy supremacy...”
TODAY: Warm sun, few T-storms up north. Winds: SE 8. High: 82
SUNDAY NIGHT: More clouds, a passing shower or T-storm. Low: 65
MONDAY: Wet start, then slow clearing. High: 79
TUESDAY: Comfortable sunshine, less humid. Dew point: 50. Wake-up: 58. High: 76
WEDNESDAY: Showers and T-storms likely. Wake-up: 59. High: 73
THURSDAY: Ration of sunshine, hurry outside! Bright and sunny. Wake-up: 58. High: 78
FRIDAY: More T-storms, some strong? Wake-up: 63. High: 82
SATURDAY: Stalled front, more heavy T-storms. Wake-up: 67. High: 77
Climate Stories…
Angry U.S. Republicans Tell Pope Francis to “Stick With His Job and We’ll Stick With Ours”. That quote from the Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma; here’s an excerpt of a story at The Guardian: “…In the US for the past 10 years we have allowed climate change to become an ideological political issue instead of being the moral issue that it is,” said the Rev Mitchell Hescox, leader of the Evangelical Environmental Network. “The idea that climate change is a liberal issue has just permeated the thought of those in the conservative movement, and those in the denier campaign have taken advantage of that to continue to drive home the message that climate change is not a moral issue,” added Hescox, who identifies himself as a conservative. But it gets much harder to dismiss climate change as a fringe concern of liberals such as Al Gore, and environmental regulations as a sneaky first step to sweeping regulations and a government takeover of private lives, once the pope becomes involved...”
Papal Climate Encyclical: Are We Closer To A Tipping Point? Check out a humorous video about a very serious subject; the video link and more details are here: “This video is a lot of fun but, also, an indication of how fast things are changing with our perception of climate change. Would you have imagined something like that just a couple of years ago?…”
How The Pope Could Turn U.S. Climate Politics Upside Down. Here’s a snippet from a story at Bloomberg Business: “…Climate change is about to join the list of things faith leaders are always on our case about. Are the values celebrated in church preeminent in the workplace? Is our lifestyle consistent with what we believe? These are questions Francis wants Catholics, and everybody else, to begin asking themselves when it comes to global warming and global poverty, closely related issues. “This is not about Al Gore,” says Mitch Hescox, head of the Evangelical Environmental Network, which promotes care of the earth among evangelical Christians. “This is about being a disciple of Jesus Christ.”
Photo credit above: “Pope Francis” talks with Poland’s Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz during a private audience at the Vatican, Friday, June 12, 2015.” (Gabriel Bouys/Pool Photo via AP).
Pope Francis: “Let Us Modify Our Relationship With Natural Resources”. Here’s an excerpt from Religion News Service: “People must change their lifestyles and attitudes to help defeat hunger, Pope Francis said Thursday (June 11), a hint of what may be coming in his much-anticipated environmental encyclical next week. “We must begin with our daily lives if we want to change lifestyles, aware that our small gestures can guarantee sustainability and the future of the human family,” said Francis, addressing delegates at a conference hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. “Let us modify our relationship with natural resources, land use, consumption, and eliminate waste. Thus shall we defeat hunger,” he added…”
Climate Change Creating Longer, More Intense Fire Seasons, Warns Interior Secretary. Seattlepi.com has the story; here’s an except: “…This is the situation now facing the American West,” said a prescient National Wildlife Federation study six years ago. “Wildfire frequency and severity are increasing because of rising temperatures, drying conditions and more lightning brought by global warming. “When combined with decades of fire suppression that allowed unsafe fire loads to accumulate, severe bark beetle infestations that are rapidly decimating trees, and ever-expanding human settlements in and near forests, the result is increasing vulnerability and major fires.” Washington saw its largest wake-up-call fire last summer — the Carlton Complex blaze that consumed 256,000 acres of forests, range lands and houses in Okanogan County…” (File image: Grist).
Polar Bears Are Now Eating Dolphins In The Arctic. Unusually warm water is luring dolphins far from their traditional waters, as reported at VICE News; here’s the intro: “The good news: Polar bears, imperiled by climate change, appear to have found something new to eat. The bad news: It’s dolphins. Scientists studying bears on the Arctic shores of Norway found several of the white-coated predators feasting on the remains of white-beaked dolphins, which appeared to have become trapped under the ice of a fjord…”
Photo credit above: Jon Aars/Norwegian Polar Institute.
New Charges of Climate Skeptic’s Undisclosed Ties to Energy Industry Highlight Journals’ Role as Gatekeeper. PLOS, the Public Library of Science, has an interesting blog post; here’s an excerpt: “…Thanks to documents obtained from court settlements, whistleblowers and investigations by reporters and U.S. congressmen, we know that corporations hire scientists to write studies that help delay regulations, defend products worth billions and discredit research to protect their bottom line. Reviews of studies in several high-stake fields, including pharmaceutical research, chemical toxicity and passive smoking, have found a “funding effect.” Researchers who receive funding from industry in these fields, the reviews show, are more likely than those who don’t take industry money to publish results in line with the company’s interests…”