History suggests Minnesota is in line for a boatload of 90-degree days this summer
Only time will tell, but climatologists with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources believe 90-degree days in May are a good indicator for a hotter than normal summer.
On average, there is one 90-degree day in May once every three years. But in 146 years of keeping track, there have only been 23 years in which the month of May produced multiple 90-degree days in the Twin Cities.
This year is another, with Tuesday's forecast high in the mid-90s set to be a record, sixth consecutive day of 90+ degrees, which will rank second all time to the eight days of 90-degree heat in May 1934.
The Twin Cities had 36 days of 90+ degrees in 1934, nearly triple the average of 13.
"We find that years with multiple 90-degree days during May have tended to be followed by summers that also have relatively high numbers of 90-degree days," the DNR's climate journal notes.
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The typical average is 13, but that number skyrockets 80 percent to 23 when there a multiple 90-degree days in May.
There are only five previous years on record that produced four-plus 90-degree days in May, and each of those years resulted in more than 20 total 90-degree days.
- 1934: 36 total (8 in May)
- 1874: 26 total (5 in May)
- 1988: 44 total (4 in May)
- 1987: 27 total (4 in May)
- 1925: 20 total (4 in May)
More recently, there were 31 days of 90+ degrees in 2012, which followed a May that had a pair of 90-degree highs.
