Weather bliss now, watching Thursday rain chances

This is how you draw up summer in Minnesota.

Sunny mild days. Ideal humidity. Cool nights with good sleeping weather. Twins still in the wild card race in August.

• 80 degrees - high at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Monday (3:59 p.m.)

• 60 degrees low at MSP Monday morning

• 47 degrees dew point at MSP at 4 p.m. Monday

We enjoy another 48 hours of blissful summer weather across Minnesota. Timing is still in flux, but our next chances for rainfall grow starting Wednesday night into Thursday as the next low pressure wave slides east.

Goldilocks forecast

Just right.

My informal, completely unscientific poll of all Minnesotans yields a 97 percent favorable rating for this week's weather. Who are the other 3 percent of you anyway?

Our weather winning streak continues through Wednesday. You'll notice the humidity creeping up by Wednesday night. Timing is still in flux, but scattered thunderstorms begin to develop ahead of the next low sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday.

The models are still struggling with the timing of the low ejecting out of the northern Rockies later this week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System (above) seems to have too wide a brush for thunderstorm symbols.

My read is Friday leans mostly dry and pleasant, with more spotty thunderstorm chances for the weekend.

The year's rain in 14 seconds

Rainfall has been remarkably timely this summer for Minnesota. Not so much in California and the Central Plains where drought and flood have been the norm. NASA has an interesting look at this year's rainfall accumulation so far across the US.

Excellent crop year

Is it just me, or does anyone else miss the noon hour farm reports of yesteryear on WCCO Radio?

Next time you fly into MSP from the south or west, just look down at the patchwork of farms that surround the Twin Cities. That's how a big part of this vibrant state economy was built and why we continue to thrive.

A warm start to spring, abundant warmth and sunshine and timely rains this summer have made for a near perfect crop year. Knee high by the Fourth of July? More like waist high this summer.

By many measures, this is the best year for crops in several years across Minnesota. Here's more from Monday's Minnesota Crop Report.

Above normal temperatures and slightly lower than normal precipitation allowed Minnesota farmers to harvest small grains during the week ending August 2, 2015, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. There were 5.7 days suitable for fieldwork, the most days suitable since early May. Other field activities for the week included spraying, scouting for aphids, and baling hay.

Topsoil moisture supplies were rated 0 percent very short, 7 percent short, 88 percent adequate, and 5 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies were rated 0 percent very short, 6 percent short, 90 percent adequate, and 4 percent surplus.

With most of Minnesota’s corn acreage in or past the silking stage, 20 percent of the crop was in the dough stage or beyond, equal to last year but 4 days ahead of the five-year average. Corn condition rated 87 percent good to excellent. Seventy-six percent of the soybean crop was setting pods or beyond, 9 days ahead of last year and 10 days ahead of average. Soybean condition rated 81 percent good to excellent, the highest rating since October 2010.

Sixteen percent of the barley crop was harvested, with condition rated at 64 percent good to excellent. Oat harvest advanced to 29 percent complete, 2 days behind normal. Oat condition rated 79 percent good to excellent. Five percent of the spring wheat acreage was harvested, almost 1 week ahead of the previous year. Spring wheat condition rated 79 percent good to excellent. Seventy-three percent of the dry edible bean crop was setting pods or beyond, with condition rated at 76 percent good to excellent. Potato condition rated 93 percent good to excellent. Sunflower condition rated 62 percent good to excellent, up slightly from last week. Sugarbeet condition rated 85 percent good to excellent.

The second cutting of alfalfa hay neared completion with 94 percent harvested. The third cutting of alfalfa hay was 21 percent complete, five days ahead of last year. All hay condition rated 81 percent good to excellent, up slightly from the previous week. Pasture condition rated 78 percent good to excellent.

Renewables lead the way on EPA Clean Power Plan

There's an interesting dynamic happening while some in the US still argue about the reality of climate change. The push to renewable energy is moving forward at an increasing pace. I pulled some some relevant clips from an interesting piece from Climate Central on how the rapid growth already underway in renewable energy takes center stage in the EPA's clean power push.

In its signature bid to reimagine America’s power infrastructure to help slow climate change, the Obama Administration has ratcheted up its demands and expectations for pollution reductions from America’s electricity sector for the years ahead.

Pointing to recent projections for rapid advances in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final version of the Clean Power Plan, which will be released and signed Monday by President Obama, sets a new, more ambitious benchmark for pollution reductions in the year 2030.

Basic details of the finalized rule were released to reporters Sunday, showing it’s expected to contribute to a national electricity mix containing 28 percent renewable energy in 2030. When the draft plan was published a year ago, the EPA anticipated it would lead to an electricity mix containing 22 percent renewable energy by that time.

The Clean Power Plan is underpinning the pledge by the U.S. to the rest of the world to ease greenhouse pollution, including from power generation, transportation and other sources, by at least 26 percent by 2025 compared with 2005 levels. That pledge was made ahead of global climate talks scheduled for Paris in December.

“The government is regulating carbon pollution from the biggest source — power plants — for the first time, and in a very substantial and serious way,” David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council said Sunday. He said he was waiting to see the final rule before reaching any firm conclusions about it.

“The U.S. is the lynchpin of getting a successful global effort to curb climate change,” Doniger said. “The clean power plan is the lynchpin of the U.S. domestic program.”