A history of Metro heatwaves

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KMSP Minneapolis, MN - The first significant heat wave since 2012 is tightening its grip on the Twin Cities this week. There is no doubt that it is going to be hot, but it has been hotter, much hotter for much longer.

The Twin cities rarely sees the mercury climb to the triple digits. In fact, in the 130 plus years of weather records in the Twin Cities, the list of times when the metro hit the century mark is just one page long. The metro hits a hundred degrees once about every 3 to 5 years. You can check out the list here on the MN DNR Climatology page http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/100degreesmsp.html

Its not only going to be hot but it will be humid as well. The dew point, a measure of how much moisture is in the air, will be in uncomfortable ranges this week.

According to the MN DNR Climatology page, the highest dew point temperature ever recorded in the Twin Cities was 82 degrees at 3pm and 4pm July 19, 2011. This broke the old record of 81 degrees at 11am on July 30, 1999. For all you weather enthusiasts out there you can check out the Twin Cities dew point extremes at this link: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/twin_cities/mspdewpoint.html

Statewide, the temperatures have extremes have been greater. The all-time highest temperature in the metro is 108° on July 14, 1936 as compared to the state’s all-time high of 115° in Big Stone County near the South Dakota border back on July 29, 1917.