The temperature dropped to 27 degrees in Embarrass, Minn., this morning but remained in the upper 40s in most of the Northland as a small but frigid wave of Canadian air plunged through the region.
Much of the Iron Range saw temperatures drop to around 32 degrees, likely enough for light frost but hopefully not enough to kill many plants and flowers.
There were also reports of light frost in some sandy soil areas of Northeastern Wisconsin, the National Weather Service in Duluth reported this morning. Duluth's official low at the airport was 48.
The early shot of cold is unusual even for often-cold Embarrass. Cook, for example, on average doesn't see its first heavy frost until Sept. 10. Duluth first sees frost on average about Sept. 10 at the airport and not until Oct. 18 at the harbor.
This morning likely was the last chance of any super-cold temperatures for some time. Forecast highs for the rest of the week are in the 70s with lows in the lower 50s in Duluth and 40s on the Iron Range, exactly normal for this time of late summer.
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Meanwhile, much of the Northland remains locked in a mid-summer dry spell that's now several weeks long. Duluth has seen just .92 inches of rain for August, 2.3 inches below normal. We now sit an inch below normal for summer and nearly two inches below normal for the calendar year.
There's not much rain in the forecast, either - just a 30 percent chance Wednesday afternoon and evening.
