The National Weather Service's Twin Cities/Chanhassen office first issued an Extreme Heat Warning for the Bloomington area at 2:43 a.m. on July 12, initially set to expire the evening of July 14. It hasn't expired yet. Forecasters have renewed the warning at least 13 times since, most recently at 1:04 a.m. on July 17, pushing the end time to 9 p.m. that same day.
The pattern has repeated almost around the clock: NWS meteorologists updated the warning multiple times a day through July 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16, each time extending the cutoff by another day or two rather than letting it lapse. What began as a three-day warning has effectively run for nearly a week straight.
The city flagged the danger early. In a July 10 advisory, Bloomington urged residents to drink plenty of water, use sports drinks to replace lost salt and minerals, and avoid or limit exercise between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. — the hottest stretch of the day. The city also warned against leaving kids or pets in vehicles and asked residents to check on vulnerable neighbors.
For anyone who needs somewhere cool to ride it out, the city points to Hennepin County's interactive map of heat relief locations rather than listing its own cooling centers. The city's guidance is blunt on the medical risk: call 911 right away for heat stroke symptoms, or if heat exhaustion signs last more than an hour.
As of the latest NWS update, the Extreme Heat Warning is set to expire at 9 p.m. Tuesday, July 17. Given how many times that deadline has already moved, it's worth checking weather.gov/mpx before assuming the heat is actually breaking.
For the next 12 hours and today's records, see Bloomington weather; for the days ahead, the 10-day forecast.
