Meager precipitation chances this week

The dry spell continues! While some folks across southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa received a fair bit of rain this past Thursday and Saturday, this beneficial rain was not as widespread as we would have liked to see. Rochester remains almost 2″ below average in terms of rainfall for the month of September, with most of last weeks rainfall missing downtown and the airport.

With this in mind, can we buy some rain before September closes out? Odds of this happening do not look all that promising this week, as high pressure looks to dominate our forecast for the time being.

The only real chance of rain we have this upcoming workweek arrives Tuesday. A cold front will work its way across Minnesota Tuesday morning and across the Weather First area Tuesday afternoon. While this may seem like a promising opportunity for some rain at first glance, this will hardly be the case. Forcing collapses as the front progresses across Minnesota from east to west, with moisture content in the air also falling off the cliff fast by the time the front reaches southeastern Minnesota.

With that said, most of the area, if not all of the area, will likely remain dry through the entirety of Tuesday. Cloud cover may increase at times, but overall, not expecting anything substantial from this front as it passes through the area.

High pressure builds in by middle of the week and meanders to our north through the end of the week. An upper level low will be lurking to our south in tandem with this high pressure ridge to our north, creating a unique blocking pattern that tends to stall the atmosphere and prevent much in terms of frontal progression across the country.

That said, precipitation chances over the next 5-7 days are very low for us locally. This will only increase the chances of some folks in the region ending up with one of the driest Septembers we have seen here in quite some time.