Excessive Heat — Ramsey, Minnesota

2013-08-25 to 2013-08-29 · Ramsey, Minnesota

Event narrative

Temperatures across the area rose above 90 degrees during the afternoon of Sunday, August 25th. As the dew point rose into the 70s, the heat indices surpassed 100 degrees for several hours during the afternoon, topping out around 105 degrees. During the night, heat indices held above 80 degrees. The heat and humidity continued through Thursday afternoon before temperatures fell into the 70s. 216 people were treated at State Fair medical aid stations for heat-related illnesses. Of those 216, 10 were transported to area hospitals.

Wider weather episode

A large ridge of high pressure built across the central part of the United States during the last week of August. Heat and humidity increased across the Upper Midwest starting the weekend of August 25th, and lasted until the latter part of the week with a string of 90+ afternoon temperatures, combined with dew points in the 70s, caused heat indices to rise above 100 degrees from Sunday, through Tuesday, August 27th. In the Twin Cities metro area, heat indices remained above 80 degrees overnight, and afternoon heat indices continued above 100 degrees through Thursday afternoon, August 29th. There were not any reports of deaths due to heat as a primary or contributing factor.

The Minnesota State Fair was going on during the time period. 216 people required treatment at medical stations at the fair for heat related illnesses, 10 of whom were transported to local area hospitals. In addition, several record high temperatures were observed, and a dew point temperature of 77 degrees on August 27th at 3:00 PM tied the MSP high dewpoint temperature record set on August 27, 1990. It also tied the record for highest dewpoint ever during the State Fair (77 degrees - August 28, 1955 and August 27, 1990). Minneapolis schools canceled all outdoor after-school athletics practices during this period. The August 26th high of 96 degrees in the Twin Cities broke the 94-degree record set in 1948.

In Hennepin County, from the 25th through the 29th, there were 28 people who were treated for heat related illnesses, either as walk-ins at emergency rooms, or transported by ambulance to hospitals. There were no known reports of heat illnesses treated outside Hennepin or Ramsey Counties.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 473164. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.