Warmest on record September ends with more heat and red flag warnings

The driest and warmest September on record comes to an end Monday with another day with highs in the 80s expected and fire danger running high across much of Minnesota.

Kristin Witte, of Chanhassen, had no idea, but the warm weather and sun-drenched skies made Monday a good day to play hooky from work and play around of golf at Theodore Wirth Golf Course in Golden Valley.

“Can’t beat the weather,” she said before teeing off with her friend Marny Benjamin, of St. Louis Park. “Winter is ahead.”

Though snow season is still a few weeks off, the immediate danger on Monday was the potential for wildfires. Red flag warnings for extreme fire danger are in place across 39 counties in central, northeast, northwest and southwest Minnesota, where the combination of unseasonable warmth, low humidity, high winds and dry vegetation will create “critical” conditions for wildfires, the National Weather Service said.

“Today is not the day to be doing any kind of burning,” the Weather Service said.

The northern portion of Lake and St. Louis counties in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Wilderness and a handful of counties in northwestern Minnesota are under “extreme” fire danger with a “very high” danger across the most of the of the state, the Department of Natural Resources said.

A Red flag warning means fires can spread quickly and easily get out of control, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said. The DNR will not issue or activate open burning permits for large vegetative debris burning during the Red Flag Warning, and campfires are discouraged.

“When fire risk is this high, it’s important to be careful with anything that could spark a wildfire,” said Karen Harrison, a DNR wildfire prevention specialist.

Temperatures are forecasted to reach into the 80s for a sixth straight day Monday before a cool front pushes across the state from the northwest, the Weather Service said.

The front will bring gusty winds and drop humidity levels, creating elevated fire potential until evening in places such as Marshall, Morris, St. Cloud, Fergus Falls, Detroit Lakes, Brainerd and Bemidji, setting the stage for fires.

Tyler Teal took advantage of 70-degree weather Monday to walk his dog, Woody, a 2 1/2 old schnauzer, around Lake Bde Maka Ska in south Minneapolis.

“Beautiful,” Teal said of the weather, adding that Woody is not a fan of 85-degree temperatures, the forecasted high for Monday. “It makes up for June,” when an abundance of rainy days kept temperatures below average.

Tyler stopped to allow Woody to “meet” Susan Grcas’ dog, Reuben, in the shade on the northwest side of Lake Bde Maka Ska.

“It was too hot for him on the blacktop,” she said, referring to Reuben.

Monday’s high of 85 degrees in the Twin Cities will make it the 19th day this month the mercury has hit or surpassed the 80-degree mark. With an average daily temperature of 70.3 degrees, this September is now the warmest recorded since weather records began in 1873, the Minnesota Climatology Office said.

That eclipses the previous mark of 69.1 degrees set just last year, the Climatology Office said.

Though rain fell on three separate days in September, it barely wetted the ground. Just .06 inches have fallen this month in the Twin Cities, making it the driest September ever. The last time it was this dry in September was when .24 inches of precipitation fell in 2022.

The lack of rain has left much of Minnesota in the abnormally dry category, according to the latest edition of the U.S. Drought Monitor. And that comes on the heels of one of the soggiest springs on record. The 7.27 inches of rain recorded in the Twin Cities made it the 14th wettest June on record. Places such as Windom, Wells, Owatonna and Faribault did set records and experienced flooding.

Just three months later, it’s getting bone dry again.

“We just don’t have that middle [ground] anymore,” said John Jacobson, an owner of Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake, at a visit by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan last Thursday. “We had this very, very wet spring, and now we’re … what? The driest September in recorded history?”

A brief cool down on Tuesday will see temperatures sink into the more normal 60s for a day before a warm and sunny Wednesday will see temperatures make another run for 80. The average high for this time of the year is 67 degrees.

No rain is in sight. The forecast calls for highs in the upper 60s and low 70s Thursday through Sunday with sunny skies, the National Weather Service said.