I’ve written a lot in this column about winter. Winter, much more than summer, is what sets the Upper Midwest apart from most of the country. It’s what this place is famous for. Winter presents a condition of climate different from other seasons not just in degree but in kind. When you drop below the freezing point of water, lots of physical changes occur–your body shivers, snow appears from the sky and stays on the ground, sidewalks become slippery, and machinery becomes difficult to operate. And winter is never very far away, especially in the northern part of the region. July is the only month that there has never been a recorded snowfall in Minnesota.

But summer deserves my attention as well. Summer brings a season in the Upper Midwest that is only slightly cooler than the rest of the United States. And as the temperature rises to its summer highs, there is no crucial point similar to the freezing point of water, no phase change that occurs. Thankfully, we do not reach water’s boiling point, although sometimes it feels like we do.

While it can certainly be hot here, it’s not as hot as Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, or St. Louis–nor is it as humid as those cities, with the exception of Phoenix. The temperature has not reached 100 degrees in Minneapolis-St. Paul since 1995–10 years ago–and the Twin Cities have not had more than one day over 100 in a summer since 1988–17 years ago–when there were three days above 100.

For an idea about how summer temperatures in the Upper Midwest compare to other cities, take a look at this list of average high temperatures in July:

Duluth, Minnesota: 76
Boston: 82
Minneapolis: 83
Philadelphia: 87
St. Louis: 89
Atlanta: 89
New Orleans: 91
Sacramento: 93
Houston: 94
Phoenix: 105

I wrote about the “weather dividend” last winter. That’s the benefit you get, weatherwise, from being in one place rather than another. In January, the weather dividend for most people goes to warmer places, unless you like snow sports. In the summer, northern places get the weather dividend, unless you really like warm weather. Here in the Upper Midwest, we’ll collect our weather dividend checks right now, thank you.

Recent Weather

We had a rainy spring and early summer this year. Nearly every day in May and early June we got some rain–sometimes two or more times in a day. Dark clouds were always rolling in from the south or the west or northwest.

Lately it’s been hot and there’s been little rain, which has had the benefit of greatly reducing the number of mosquitoes. In July we had at least 14 days in a row above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with the latter part of that very humid, including dewpoints above 80 degrees in southern Minnesota. Quite a hot streak, and a nice change from winter.

It’s turned cool again, however–52 degrees when I got up yesterday. Just a few days ago we woke up to a humid 80 degrees.

Source: weatherbase.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 28th, 2005 at 7:19 am and is filed under Minnesota, Weather, Winter.