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The Link Lonk2020 is behind us and as we look back at the weather in Minnesota, the two biggest trends were that it was a warm and a dry year across the state. And now, the first days of 2021 are going to start off similarly — mild and dry.
Coming off areas of record rain the previous year, Minnesota started 2020 with no parts of the state that were in “abnormally dry” or drought conditions.
That changed quickly as portions of Minnesota struggled to get significant precipitation, with a few areas even going into the “severe drought” category during the year.
Almost the entire state ended up drier than average, with some spots, such as Duluth, far enough below average to see a top 10 driest year.
Looking at the drought monitor for Minnesota, the change over 2020 is stark.
Soil conditions at the end of 2019 versus 2020
United States Drought Monitor
Warmer than average temperatures contributed to the dry conditions.
While the state ranking is not compiled yet for 2020 as of publication time for this story, the Twin Cities, for example, tied its 14th warmest year on record in records that go back about 150 years.
Minnesotans also voted the historic warmth of early November, which gave the state more 70- and 80-degree highs than any other November on record, the top weather event of the year.
(The top five weather events of 2020 as compiled by the State Climatology Office can be found here: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/top-five-weather-events-2020-minnesota.html )
The New Year started off slightly milder than average, with most morning lows in the teens and a few single digits. There have also been some light areas of fog that are expected to burn-off by midday.
Skies across the state remain mostly cloudy Friday, due in part to a strong winter storm passing southeast of Minnesota. However, other than an isolated chance for a flurry, the precipitation with that should miss Minnesota.
Highs warm into the 20s for almost the entire state, with a few 30s possible southwest.
Friday high temperatures
National Weather Service
This is near-average for places like the Twin Cities, but almost 10 degrees above average for northern Minnesota.
Saturday morning is also likely to start of foggy across much of Minnesota, with mostly cloudy skies lingering much of the day.
Fog forecast Saturday morning
National Weather Service
Most of the state makes it into the 20s again, with 30s expected across the majority of western Minnesota.
By Sunday, more sunshine returns and that helps push almost all of the state into the 30s.
Monday will also be in the 30s, with a slight chance for an isolated 40 in southern Minnesota. It would be even milder, except the snow on the ground prevents temperature from getting too warm. Expect some significant melting Monday.
Monday is currently forecast to be the warmest day next week, but the entire week remains above average with high in the 20s and 30s the remainder of the week.
Here is that forecast for the Twin Cities:
Twin Cities forecast through Tuesday
National Weather Service
Meanwhile, precipitation chances are limited until Monday, when light snow is likely to clip across northern Minnesota. There is the potential for a more significant winter storm next Wednesday, but some models show that may track across northern Minnesota and miss the southern half of the state.
Possible winter storm Wednesday
Tropical Tidbits
We will keep you updated as the track and potential snowfall with that storm become more certain.
Happy New Year, and thank you for following Updraft in 2021!
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.
You make MPR News possible. Individual donations are behind the clarity in coverage from our reporters across the state, stories that connect us, and conversations that provide perspectives. Help ensure MPR remains a resource that brings Minnesotans together.
So long, 2020. Hello, 2021! Ring in the (much-anticipated) new year with a fresh start and zero-proof beverages from Chicago bartenders.
Named after the cry to commemorate Mexico’s independence, Tzuco Bar Manager Andrew Bone’s zero-proof drink of choice is bright and energetic—ideal for adding a pop color to dry January. “This cheer is something that energizes a crowd, similar to how the spice of the serrano pepper brightens up this special mocktail,” he says of the El Grito. If you want to add even more panache, incorporate CBD for extra layers of depth in your drink.
Ingredients:
1 oz. hibiscus syrup
1 oz. lemon juice
2 slices serrano pepper
1-1 ½ oz. Flora CBD
To make:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker.
Shake with ice and serve.
Putting a spin on the popular Paloma cocktail, mixologist and owner of Simplicité Co., Revae Schneider, created the Llama Pallama mocktail with her line cocktail syrups. The beverage adds a smoky factor with Simplicité Smoked Salt syrup, and paired with bitterness from the Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher, you won’t miss the zing of tequila. “You get all of the complexities of a boozy cocktail without the hangover the next day,” she says.
Ingredients:
2 parts water
1 part fresh lime juice
1 part fresh grapefruit juice
1 part simple syrup, preferably Simplicité Smoked Salt syrup
3 basil leaves
To make:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice.
Shake for 30 seconds and pour into glass over fresh ice
Top with Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher
At Virtue, manager Jesus Garcia has created a drink menu that ties in a Southern homage to owner Erick William’s past experiences. With ingredients like basil simple syrup and lemon juice, The Hummingbird is a mocktail that’s an aromatic and sweet spruce up to the traditional lemonade. “[It’s] something that has depth yet is very approachable,” Garcia says.
Ingredients:
1 ½ oz. basil simple syrup
½ oz. lemon juice
4 oz. soda water
1 sprig of basil for garnish
To make:
Fill a collins glass with ice, add simple syrup and lemon juice.
Top off with soda water and garnish with basil sprig.
Spicy, tart and comforting—three words Heritage Restaurant & Caviar Bar owner and executive chef Guy Meikle uses to describe this festive nonalcoholic drink. Since the pandemic, Meikle has taken over the bar program, experimenting with new ideas that can be translated into this rendition of warm apple cider. The blend of blackberry shrub and jalapeno flavors with the apple cider base is a great drink to help transition from holiday parties into the new year reset. “[It’s great] right now to keep people's spirits up and warm their bodies,” Meikle says of his mocktail of choice.
Ingredients:
4 oz. apple cider
½ oz. jalapeno simple syrup
½ oz. blackberry shrub
To make:
Combine all ingredients in a glass with ice.
Garnish with a dehydrated orange wheel, sage and a smoked cherry.
Highlighting sweet with spicy, this simple citrus drink will kick off your dry January with a bang. Thomas Moore, a divisional bar training manager at Aba and other restaurants, likes the mind game of thinking you’re having a cocktail, when really, you’re complying with no-cocktail rules. “The heat from the serrano peppers simulates the burn of alcohol, and I end up enjoying the drink just as much as I would a more ‘traditional’ cocktail,” he says.
Ingredients:
1 oz. pineapple serrano cordial
¾ oz. lemon juice
Soda
Pineapple wedge and Aleppo pepper slice for garnish
To make:
Fill a Collins glass with ice; add lime juice, pineapple serrano cordial and top with soda.
Gently stir with a bar spoon to mix.
Garnish with a wedge of pineapple and Aleppo pepper.
Photography by: From top: Courtesy of Tzuco; courtesy of Simplicite Co.; by Lindsey Becker; courtesy of Heritage Restaurant & Caviar Bar; by Thomas Moore
As you woke up this morning to a new year you also woke up to some colder temperatures in the mid 30s and partly cloudy skies. Clouds will become more frequent and Temperatures will warm up throughout your New Year’s Day to about 50 degrees. Thanks to a northwest wind, our windchill will make you feel a little cooler with feel-like temps in the low to mid 40s. As the sun goes down, temperatures will drop back into the 30s with our low tonight expected to be 34° and our windchill at a very cold 28°.
We’ll hold onto the mid 50s for the first half of the weekend with your Saturday’s high at 56° before plenty of sunshine starting on Sunday and a warming trend helps us reach the mid 60s by the beginning of next week.
New Year’s Day: Partly cloudy. High: 50. Wind: NW 5-10.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy. Low: 36. Wind: NW 5-10 mph.
Saturday: Partly cloudy. High: 56. Wind: NW 5-10
Saturday Night: Clear. Low: 38. Wind: W 0-5 mph.
Copyright 2020 KBTX. All rights reserved.
The Link Lonk
At the opening of The Dry, Roadshow Films latest thriller starring Eric Bana, Genevieve O’Reilly, Keir O’Donnell and a cast of up-and-coming young actors, I was immediately triggered. As a farmer’s daughter, repressed memories of heart-breaking drought begun to flood back. My stomach turned, I was suddenly emotional. Yet, completely hooked for the next 117 minutes.
Adapted from Jane Harper’s award-winning novel of the same name, The Dry follows Federal Police officer Aaron Falk (played by Eric Bana), who returns to his hometown after 20 years to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, who allegedly murdered his wife and child before taking his own life. A victim of the madness that has ravaged this community after more than a decade of drought. Falk stays to investigate the crime, but his presence unearths old wounds.
“It’s a real challenge to make a detective mystery, I hadn’t worked in that genre before, it’s not a genre that Australian cinema does that often”, Director Robert Connolly tells GRAZIA.
Video edit: Kimberlee Kessler
The film takes place in the Wimmera Region, Victoria, where during production in early 2019 the drought had no signs of breaking. In turn, the further angst and tension from the storyline was further reverberated by the harsh landscape; its own character. I’m told by the director water was being trucked in to the towns that housed cast and crew. And often, according to members of the cast, the set was dressed with fake plants and lush greenery to signify flashback scenes.
“It literally felt like it was never going to rain again”, Bana says. “It was so incredibly dry and hot out there.”
For Bana – best known for his roles in Hulk and Dirty John – it was his first Australian production in 12 years, a homecoming not only for his character but for himself. “I forgot that it was actually possible to go to work without a 20-hour flight. It made me very envious of those actors, British and American who never ever have to do an accent their entire career. Playing in Australia didn’t even feel like work really.”
Speaking on the themes of the film, Connolly reiterates this notion. “What happens when you leave somewhere and what happens when you stay somewhere? There’s so many of us that choose to leave… for a lot of people they stay and I think these are the big questions of the world where people are moving around and the journey we go on.”
Emulating Jane Harper’ s novel, the audience are taken through a high-octane ‘who-dunnit’ plot, where the characters – in addition to the challenges of drought and bushfire – are confronted with past mistakes and new consequences. Speaking to Claude Scott-Mitchell, Sam Corlett, Keir O’Donnell, Genevieve O’Reilly and Bebe Bettencourt, the film has forced the cast to reflect on their own past.
We pen the question: what would you tell your younger self if you had the chance?
O’Reilly who has appeared in major blockbusters such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Matrix Reloaded and fronts Gretchen in The Dry, had a simple answer: “Stay true to yourself.” Scott-Mitchell who plays the ‘Young Gretchen’ and is at the peak of her acting career told GRAZIA she would tell her younger self, “to dare … you always learn something from that.”
And as for who truly committed the crime in question, well, the cast also has an opinion on that. Alternatively (we also highly-recommend) watching The Dry in cinemas from January 1.
The Link Lonk
NEW YEAR’S EVE: Turning out partly cloudy and colder. Low: 22
NEW YEAR’S DAY: Becoming cloudy with rain and freezing rain later in the day, mixed with sleet at the onset. High: 38
FRIDAY NIGHT: Periods of rain, with lingering freezing rain in the higher elevations in the evening. Low: 33
The last day of 2020 started on a damp and dreary note, a weather microcosm of the year as a whole for many, as the final cold front of the year slowly slid south through the area. In its wake and in a rare bit of 2020 good luck, we’ll dry out nicely for New Year’s Eve with some clearing overnight as well. Granted, that will set up a colder night with light winds and clearer skies, as overnight temperatures drop deep down into the 20s. With some fresh cold air in place as our next round of wet weather approaches later Friday, expect some rain but also some freezing rain this time, most prolonged north of the Lehigh Valley where winter weather advisories are posted for ice accumulations. So it’s a wet start to the new year later Friday, and a third and final round of some rain (and wet snow for some) awaits for the second half of the weekend on Sunday. Thankfully, we’ll be able to tuck in a mild and dry Saturday in between with some 50-degree sunshine on Saturday. While it’s mostly rain for most of the area with these next two systems, we’ll watch for some icing with our Friday storm, especially along the Interstate 80 corridor. It’s the same area on Sunday where wet snow could factor in and provide some light accumulations. Quieter and some welcome drier weather should arrive early next week, with temperatures not hard to take for early January.
DETAILED FORECAST
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Evening clouds should begin to break up as skies trend partly to even mostly clear overnight. With light winds and clearing skies, cold temperatures in the low 20s will result. Come the ball drop around midnight, expect temperatures to be in the upper 20s to around 30 degrees, seasonably cold for late December but most importantly dry.
NEW YEAR’S DAY
Clouds will thicken back up on the first day of 2021 after a little early morning sunshine, with some rain arriving in the afternoon and evening, perhaps beginning as a little sleet. Some freezing rain is possible at the onset anywhere northwest of the Interstate 95 corridor, but it’s areas north of the Lehigh Valley, mostly along the Interstate 81 and 80 corridors, where icing will be more problematic and a few tenths of an inch of ice may accumulate on any colder surfaces. Expect around a half to three quarters of an inch of rain on average, with some spots perhaps as high as an inch. While certainly wet, the rain won’t be as heavy as back on Christmas Eve, and without the snow cover this time, the potential for flooding is much lower. Be wary of traveling in freezing rain though, especially Friday evening towards the Poconos and northwestern New Jersey.
SATURDAY
Clouds will break for some sunshine Saturday, certainly the better and milder weekend day with highs up around 50 degrees, perhaps with a little bit of a breeze at times.
SUNDAY
A fast moving and relatively weak low pressure along the coast will take a favorable track to ordinarily give us snow this time of year, but with the lack of cold air around, it’s another round of rain for most of us on Sunday. The exception will again be the Poconos and northwestern New Jersey, where a few inches of wet snow are possible with air just cold enough to support snow. Highs for everyone else will be close to 40 degrees.
NEXT WEEK
Monday through Wednesday look quiet with partly sunny skies, an occasional breeze, and highs in the low 40s, better than our average high for early January in the mid 30s. Our next chance for rain or wet snow would be Thursday night and Friday late in the week.
TRACK THE WEATHER:
The Link Lonk
SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- We’ve got dry, cold weather on tap for New Year’s Eve across much of New England. Skies will gradually become clear tonight with lows falling into the upper teens to mid 20s by morning.
Friday begins with good sunshine and we see high clouds gradually increase throughout the day. Temperatures climb into the upper 30s and low 40s with a light and variable breeze.
Winter Weather Advisories have been issued ahead of our next storm system for Friday night through Saturday morning for all of western Mass. We are expecting a wintry mix that will likely lead to hazardous travel conditions for most.
Low pressure moving up from the southwest will bring precipitation to our area starting around 6-8pm. Precip should begin as light snow for many and that snow may accumulate to an inch or less in the lower valley and up to 3 inches in the Berkshires and Rt. 2 corridor. Warmer air in the mid-levels will move over colder air at the ground, changing snow over to sleet and freezing rain Friday night. Ice accumulations may reach up to a tenth of an inch for the valley before precip changes to plain rain. In the hill towns and Berkshires, ice amounts up to a quarter inch are possible. Rain and freezing rain will end Saturday morning from south to north.
Travel conditions should be worst overnight Friday into Saturday morning. Icy roads will become wet as the morning wears on-first in the valley, then eventually in the higher elevations. While we are not expecting a lot of power outages, for those in the hills who end up with a quarter inch of ice or more, isolated outages will be possible.
Dry weather returns Saturday evening and night, then clouds increase Sunday morning ahead of a developing coastal low. This storm system’s track and strength are still uncertain, but minor to moderate snow is looking possible for our area Sunday night into Monday morning. Once this system moves out, we remain fairly cloudy and seasonable Tuesday, then turn milder with more sunshine Wednesday and Thursday.
The Link Lonkdry.indah.link When tens of millions of Americans hit the road this holiday weekend, they’re going to find the highest prices for gasoline...
