Hot Rochester sunset looking west from RCTC towards Downtown August 30th 2012

Even as we near the month of September which normally signifies cooler weather extreme heat continues to be the main weather story type in Southeastern Minnesota.  Today an area hot area of high pressure that has been sitting to our south for the past few months sent some heat back our way and sent high temperatures to near record highs. On windy southwest winds to 35MPH highs were sent well into the 90s across the area. Some officially highs were reported as hot as 99.F. There were a few un official stations reaching the 100s. Today’s heat was different then other heat waves we’ve had becasue there was no humidity. It was a “dry” type of heat. It also helped that it was very windy helping to keep the air moving. Unfortunately the heat is not helping with our rainfall situation especially with the wind. Most areas are now very dry and trees are being effected by loosing some leaves. Grass is also turning crisp as drought conditions continue to expand across the area.

Reported highs.

Most areas were in the middle to upper 90s. Officially some of our highest number reported was 99.F at Red Wing and Austin. My station in Downtown Rochester briefly hit 100.F for a short time in the afternoon.Which makes it the 2nd warmest reading of the season and the 3rd time my station has read 100.F this year.