Monday September 12th Warm Temp Report- 90s reported.

View of cooling street trees in my neighborhood September 12th 2011


Monday was the peak of a string of very warm days across Southeastern Minnesota. Everyday the past week/weekend has brought us sunshine and increasingly warm conditions. by Thursday of last week it was already reaching the mid 80s at my location, from then, each day built up in heat until Monday when highs topped out in the upper 80s to low 90s. The difference with this airmass is there was really hardly any humidity to deal with so it was bearable in the shade. Temperatures in the 90s certainly not record breakers for southeastern Minnesota in September either, but it is fairly unusual. Skies leading up to Monday were very sunny, with no precip to be seen. Which is continuing the very dry condtions across the area.

Highs Monday.

The warmest reading area wide was from Red Wing and Lake City both with highs of 91.F The lowest readings were from the Rochester Airport and Kenyon with a high of 87.F both areas. For the Rochester Metro, the warmest high was at several inner city stations including mine, with a high of 90.F and the lowest reading was from Hallmark Terrace, which is a outlying residential area north of the city.

Fall Color Report 2011 #1

Fall Color Report #1


We are now approaching the middle part of September and following up on last weekends post, I now feel it is time to begin fall color reports for my new coverage area. So starting now I will have a fall color report issued weekly, or sooner as color intensity picks up, Fall color reports are based from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as well as from others, according to them fall color across Southeastern Minnesota is non-existent, all areas are reporting little to no color. It is still a bit early for colors to show up, Average peak color for Southeastern Minnesota is in Mid-October. For state coverage on fall color, go to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources page, found HERE

Picture in Rochester looking north at Assissi Heights grounds towards the Elton Hills area

Looking around around Rochester it is still very much like summer, both looking at the trees and weather wise. Temperatures the last couple of days have been very summer like in the low to mid 80s with strong sunshine. Color is hard to find at this time because most trees still have that "summer green" color, I have seen the drought stressed tree or two losing leaves, but looking across the landscape there is really no color to be seen at this time. In our city lot, everything is still looking a lot like summer, the green ash in the front yard is still very green and full of leaves. Locals news outlets are saying that we are in for a beautiful fall color season, hopefully they are right, because with the abundance of maples and ashes around Rochester it should make for a very beautiful scene later this month into Oct!

Dry sunny weather continuing!

Regional Weather View.

A stretch of mild sunny weather continues as a high pressures sits over the Upper Midwest. We can expect these conditions to continue through the weekend for the entire region. Highs will by in the upper 70s to 80.F Region wide, with very little chances at precip.

Local weather view.

What does all this mean for Southeastern Minnesota? A continuing stretch of sunny, dry days with light winds. We should expect plenty of sunshine for the end of the week through next weekend. Temperatures all the way through Sunday will be fairly uniform in the upper 70s to 80.F area wide, with night lows in the middle to upper 50s. Humidity will increase, but will remain well into the comfortable range.

Rochester Metro view.

Note: This map has had changes, Surrounding "bedroom communities" directly linked to Rochester have been added to better reflect the metro area as a hole.

For weather, it will be the same for the Rochester area through Sunday, accept there may be a better chance at 80.F especially Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Lows in the city may also be a few degrees warmer then surrounding areas.

Thursday, Sunny, pleasant, highs in the upper 70s to 80.F. Thursday Night, Clear Skies, lows in the mid 50s.

Friday, Sunny, plea sent, highs in the upper 70s to 80.F. Friday Night, Clear Skies, lows in the mid to upper 50s.

Saturday, Sunny and Nice, Highs in the upper 70s to 80.F. Saturday Night, Clear skies, lows in the mid tp upper 50s.

Sunday, Sunny, Warm, highs in the low 80s. Sunday Night, Clear skies, lows in the upper 50s.

Looking Ahead

Monday or Tuesday we may have a slim chance at very light rain with a strong cold front, which will bring in much cooler air by Wednesday the 14th, showing that it would be quite chilly and breezy on Wednesday, with overnight lots so cool, Some spots overnight Wednesday may have chances at frost, especially Northern parts of southeastern Minnesota. This will have to be watched. Following that more sunshine and nice weather moves for the end of the week, with some better chances at rainfall with the next system/cold front which will be here according to the models by Sunday the 18th. It dries out and remains cool behind this front. After this it shows yet another cold front bringing in cool temperatures again for around the 23rd of the month.

Premature coloring-The difference between harmless fall color and possible tree stresses or disease.

Green ashes exhibiting perfect fall color. Photo taken September 2009 in Clayton,Wis

A resent argument that came up persuaded me to make a post discussing the different between fall color and pre mature color of leaves caused by stress or disease. This information which could prove to be helpful to area residents. First it is a good idea to know what causes leave to turn in fall. Many know that the chlorophyll reducing and the colors of the leaves appearing are the initial way colors show up in leaves, the effect is caused by the shortening days and cooling nights of late summer/early fall, as the suns angle changes trees "know" when it is time to shut down and hibernate for winter.

Premature coloring on a ash tree branch in Clayton,WI September 5th 2011

Sometimes a tree can exhibit coloring with out anything to do with the shortening days of summer. This is called premature coloring, Insects or disease can be a main factor the premature coloring. It can effect any tree at any given season, but it is most often seen with in about 3-7 weeks before normal fall colors arrives. To name some, Verticillium wilt which is a fungal vascular disease is a major producer of premature fall color in Sugar Maples and Silver Maples, it can cause entire trees or some branches to change color weeks before they normally would. To name another Dutch Elms Disease is a insect born disease that infects elm trees, which can cause elm trees to develop premature color on certain branches or spotty branches throughout the tree. To know that a disease is effecting your tree you would often the premature coloring of certain trees in most years.

Disease is not always the contributor of premature color, it can also be caused by damage to trunk or branches. Damage can occur either in several cases but weed whacking too close to trees trunks is a major cause. Severe damage to the trunk can cause a girdling effect on the tree, causing entire trees to turn color prematurely. To discuss one more issue that causes entire trees to color prematurely, root or drought stress is another why some trees show fall color early, in dry years many stressed trees will change colors and drop their leaves to conserve energy. Root stress or damage can cause the same effect can to be seen, in larger cities, the wrong kind of tree planted in a tiny boulevard space can also cause root stress because the area is not large enough for the tree to pick up enough moisture and nutrients, some times resulting in premature coloring and some dead branches, some trees are effected more then other but this is especially seen in Sugar Maples.
Birch tree shedding of the oldest leaves September 5th Clayton,WI

Sometimes trees will exhibit some color when the shedding of the oldest leaves take place. Some species of trees shed some of their oldest leaves about 2-3 weeks before the initial color change. Although this is seen more often in drier years the same effect normally takes place each time, some color can be seen on the oldest leaves, before they drop. This normally only lasts for 1-3 weeks before the tree sheds the oldest leaves and it's back to green.

So how to you know if your tree has fall color or disease/insect issues? People should know that with most trees, coloring takes place fairly fast and normally starts at the end of most branches on the tree and moves inward, for the most part causing the entire tree to have color at one time. Trees turning in fall do not normally have fall color on just one or two branches or sections of the tree. For premature coloring causes by insects or disease, Look for dead branches, lots of dead branches on a trees that seem to turn early can be a sure sign of diseases. Also look for trunk damage, on weed whipped damaged trees the damage would be most prevalent near the ground level. In cities if you see trees that turn early with lots of pavement around the roots with very little room, this can be a sign of root stress that may cause trees to turn early. Finally for trees that are just shedding look for spotty leaves all over the tree that may be turning that may appear to be the leaves closest to the inner branches.

Cloudy chilly and windy condtions Sunday then sunny but remaining chilly through Labor Day, with gradual warming Tuesday.

Regional weather view.

A chilly high pressure settles in for the rest of this weekend allowing for much cooler, fall like conditions region wide. This cooler air will be ushered in a strong northwest winds. Highs will not warm out of the 60s in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, which may lead to some light frost in Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota away from Lake Superior. A gradual warming and dry trend will start Tuesday allowing for 70s to come back into the region.

Local weather view.

More Locally we can expect a blustery and chilly day across the area. It may start off fairly sunny but clouds will build in the afternoon, an a sprinkle or two could also develop. Winds will be gusting from the Northwest 25 to 30MPH at times, many places will not get out of the upper 60s on Sunday due to the cloudiness. Sunday Night will be chilly partly cloudy with lows dipping into the mid 40s Monday we can expect much sunnier and less windy conditions, but it will continue to be chilly. We can expect highs in the upper 60s again Monday with lows dipping into the mid 40s once again. A couple cool spots here or there may drop into the lower 40s. Tuesday gradual warming will take place. It will be sunny with highs rebounding into the low 70s, and lows into the upper 40s.

Metro View

For the Rochester area we can also expect it to be quite chilly, cloudy and blustery Sunday, highs will also not get out of the 60s even in the city. Some of the sprinkles in the area could effect Rochester as well. Partly cloudy skies Sunday Night will allow lows to fall into the middle to upper 40s. Monday will be much sunnier, dry, and less windy, and as a result, highs may manage to reach 70 or just below. Monday night will be chilly once again with lows in the upper 40s in the city. Tuesday will be much warmer with sunny skies and highs in the mid 70s, and lows in the lower 50s.

Sunday, Chilly and windy, Mostly Cloudy with isolated sprinkles. Winds gusting 25 to 30MPH Highs in the upper 60s. Sunday Night, Chilly, Partly cloudy with lows in the mid to upper 40s

Monday, Chilly, Sunny and less windy, Highs in the upper 60s to low 70s. Monday Night, Mostly Clear Chilly, with lows in the middle to upper 40s.

Tuesday, Warmer, Sunny and pleasant, highs in the low to mid 70s. Tuesday Night, Partly cloudy with lows in the upper 40s to low 50s.

Looking Ahead

The models have this high pressure keeping us dry the entire week ahead all the way through next weekend. It appears that we will likely have a long stretch of beautiful sunny weather once again with variable high temperatures around average for this time of year. According to the models, Our next rain chance does not come until around September 16th with a cool front. There does not appear to be any big cool downs or warm ups at this time but stay tuned because this could change.

Thunderstorms- some severe cause damage in parts of Fillmore and Winona counties. Benefical non severe storms everywhere else.

Lightning over the skies of Rochester,Minnesota Friday Sept 2nd

Thunderstorms developed and raced across the entire area early this morning, embedded in this was a line of severe storms that produced alot of wind damage first along and near the Iowa border in Mower County, then it spread and extended northeast across much of Fillmore and Southeastern Winona counties. The complex started in parts of Northwest Iowa, and weakened and pulsed back up multiple times before reaching Southeastern Minnesota. It entered the local area first at Mower county and produced penny sized hail at Lyle, then moved Northeast and caused tree damage with reported wind gusts 50 to 60MPH in Spring Valley, near Harmony and Winona before it exited the area into Western Wisconsin which it continued to produce damage. These storms had a lot of moisture to work with becuase temperatures were in the upper 70s with mid 70 degree dew points at that time.

The rest of the area did see thunderstorms this morning but the came as non severe and provided somewhat beneficial rains. Here in Rochester we got lots of lightning and some heavy downpours with a bit of a westerly breeze. My gauge here in West Downtown had 0.27" as of 11AM on Friday, which was the highest rainfall I've measured in the last 3 since I moved here. This should really help things green back up in drought stressed areas.

Damage Reports

Lyle, Penny sized hail

Spring Valley, Large branches down in city and a tree down over county road 1

4 miles Northwest Mable, Several branches down and lawn furniture blown around.

4 miles SW Winona measured 60MPH wind gust.

Thursday Hot Temp report- Temps as warm as the upper 90s reported.

Hot Sultry conditions-looking North at Highway 52 into Northwest Rochester

Today may be September 1st, but it didn't feel like it! A extremely hot muggy airmass pushed into Southeastern Minnesota boasting temperatures 20 degrees above normal then for what is expected this time of year. The warm air built in from the west behind a strong warm front that passed through on Wednesday. Behind the front was nothing but sunny hot humid air, with wall to wall sunshine through out the day. Under these condtions temperatures rose to the middle to even upper 90s in some cases, which was their hottest levels since July. This with dewpoints well into the 70s caused Heat Index Values today to be between 95 and 103.F degrees in all areas.

Highest temperates reported.

The highest temperature area wide came from Austin which recorded a high of 97.F. The coolest stations were Dodge Center and the Rochester Airport, both which landed at 88.F. Interestingly enough there was a 7 degree temperature difference between my location and the airport. The cause of this is likely because the airport is located 7 miles outside the city limits and is known for being a cool spot. One can tell where the thermometers on the left side of the list are located because the warmer the reading, the more into the city the station is. The Warmest Temperature for Rochester area came from West Downtown with a high of 95.F and the coolest reading was from Stewartville which is only 2 miles from the Rochester Airport, which came in with a reading of 90.F

This hot weather will quickly be swept out by a cold front late tonight possibly bringing a wave of storms. We can expect significantly cooler conditions tomorrow with highs in the mid 70s, and especially Sunday, when highs may struggle to reach 70.F and lows may dip into the upper 40s.