Heat — Yellow Medicine, Minnesota

2001-08-04 to 2001-08-08 · Yellow Medicine, Minnesota

Wider weather episode

An extensive heat wave persisted for five days and resulted in five fatalities in Minneapolis and its suburbs. All deaths occurred in Hennepin County and were determined by the county medical examiner. Three of the victims had been on medications at the time.Hot weather and tropical-like humidity pervaded the region, as virtually all stations registered highs in the 90s all five days. Most locales noted highs in the middle and upper 90s, but there were two places which topped out in triple digits: Santiago (Sherburne County) reached 100 on August 5, and Granite Falls (Yellow Medicine County) saw 100 on August 6. Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) reached 98 or 99 three straight days (August 5-7) when highs were 98, 99 and 98 respectively; the highs at MSP on August 6 and August 7 set records. Record low minima at MSP were also established three straight days: on August 6 when the low was only 80, on August 7 when the low was only 76, and again August 8 when the low only dropped to 77. A record high was also set August 6 in St. Cloud (STC) when the high reached 98.Meanwhile, dewpoints were in the 70s regionwide, and occasionally the low 80s. Heat indexes exceeded 100 most every day at most every location. A few noteworthy heat indexes, including the highest known value for each day, are:August 4 - 110 at Morris (Stevens County), 107 at Redwood Falls (Redwood County), and 102 at MSP.August 5 - 114 at Alexandria (Douglas County) and Morris (Stevens County), 110 at Maple Lake (Wright County) and Montevideo (Chippewa County), and 107 at Mankato (Blue Earth County) and at MSP.August 6 - 118 at Rush City (Chisago County), 114 at Redwood Falls (Redwood County), 110 at Faribault (Rice County), and 109 at MSP.August 7 - 117 at Morris (Stevens County), 116 at Redwood Falls (Redwood County), 109 at MSP, and 107 at Staples (Todd County).August 8 - 102 at Little Falls (Morrison County) and Staples (Todd County), 100 at Appleton (Swift County), and 95 at MSP.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5267398. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.