The theme of this past meteorological summer (June 1–August 31) was warm and wet for much of the state, especially in the Twin Cities and across central Minnesota. We also dealt with frequent Canadian wildfire smoke and air quality alerts.

On a statewide basis, conditions ended up close to modern averages (1991–2020). Fargo-Moorhead was one of the few spots that came in slightly below normal, while the Twin Cities, St. Cloud, and Rochester all finished more than one degree above normal.

Keep in mind the standard deviation for summer average temperatures is about 2°F. That means being just 1.3°F above normal is enough to put this summer in the top 30% of all summers, even if it didn’t feel especially hot. We had about an average number of 90-degree days, with 10 recorded between June and

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