Transcripts

CATHY WURZER: And here he is, fresh from vacation. University of Minnesota climatologist and Meteorologist Mark Seeley. But before he got here this morning, he had a little stop there at the state fair yesterday. It was fun listening to you.

MARK SEELEY: Oh, thank you. Yeah, we had a nice group there, even though it was drizzly and a little damp at the fair yesterday.

CATHY WURZER: Well, you go on vacation and look what happens. A major weather event.

MARK SEELEY: A major reversal of trend, yes.

CATHY WURZER: My goodness.

MARK SEELEY: Yeah, the rains last weekend, Cathy, are record setting in so many perspectives. New state rainfall record at Hokah, 15.1 inches, obliterated the old state record. And many, many, many locations down there in Fillmore and Houston, Olmsted, Winona. Those counties reported all time record rainfall amounts. And then what was overlooked, I think, was a Worthington.

Our friends out in Southwestern Minnesota, they got a record rainfall last weekend as well. And in fact, if you look at the drought monitor map this week, you'll see that some areas of Southwestern Minnesota were alleviated from the severe drought they had been in because they got enough precipitation over the last week to 10 days.

CATHY WURZER: Could you call this almost a perfect storm, in that there was a mix of conditions that just set up perfectly for this kind of activity?

MARK SEELEY: Yes, in fact, there's still struggling in my discipline in calculating the recurrence interval for this so-called perfect storm where all the conditions set up just right and you get a horrific rainfall amount. Bear in mind, there have been parts of the US landscape that have seen 40 inches or greater in a 24-hour period. So mother nature has the capability of delivering a lot more.

But up here at our latitudes, it's extremely rare, and it's still debatable whether or not it's maybe a once in 300 year, once in 500 year. The recurrence intervals are still kind of fuzzy for that type of storm, but it can happen. I just don't expect it to happen now for several generations.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, but well, who knows?

MARK SEELEY: Yes, that's right.

CATHY WURZER: Who knows? Which leads us to our listener question. With all of the rain that we've had and the consistent wet period going on recently, have any observers set new monthly rainfall records for August?

MARK SEELEY: Indeed, they have. And some, by the way, have set new records for any month of the year. Zumbro Falls is over 14 inches, Rochester is nearly 12.5, Winona is over 13, La Crescent is approaching 17 inches for the month of August. And we had reports from Hokah that they're up around 19 inches, the area that had the new 24 hour rainfall value.

And an observer near La Crescent is up over 23 inches for the month. Now, monthly value of over 20 inches has only happened twice in Minnesota history. One observer reported that back in 1997, and one observer reported that back in 1979. So again, we're in rarefied air there in terms of monthly precipitation totals. May also have the extremes committee of the National Weather Service have to certify a new monthly record for August as well.

CATHY WURZER: And speaking of extreme, our friends in Duluth are looking at probably, I believe, the driest August on record.

MARK SEELEY: Yes, in fact, both Duluth and Hibbing. Hibbing, for example, has had only 3/100 of an inch for the month of August so far. So those North Shore landscapes are remaining very dry. And they've been in that pattern, Cathy, for about 16 to 18 months. So it's really lingered up there.

CATHY WURZER: And the weekend forecast quickly.

MARK SEELEY: Beautiful weekend. Good weekend to be outdoors in Minnesota after a week of wetness. And also, looks like most of next week will be a beautiful week.

CATHY WURZER: And have a good weekend.

MARK SEELEY: You too.

CATHY WURZER: That's Mark Seeley from the University of Minnesota.