Near Two Harbors, 34 structures burned and Highway 61 closed; in Crow Wing County, a 1,600-acre fire sparked evacuations

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Yes, this is unusually warm for early April.

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 52 degrees this time of year. MSP airport was reporting  60 degrees at 10 a.m. today, and metro area highs are forecast to reach the upper 70s this Sunday afternoon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a stray 80 somewhere in the metro. 

Highs in the 70s are expected across much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, with some lower 80s in southwestern Minnesota. Many spots in the northern third of Minnesota will see highs in the 60s today, but there’ll be some 50s near Lake Superior.

Highs in the 80s spread across more of southern Minnesota on Monday, with 70s and 60s to the north:

There’ll be some 50s near Lake Superior. 

Wind gusts of 15-20 mph are expected in many areas on Monday:

Plotted wind gusts are in knots, with 16 knots equal to around 18 mph.

Back to temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid 60s Tuesday, followed by lower 60s Wednesday and around 60 Thursday and Friday.

Some showers and thunderstorms are possible in Minnesota and western Wisconsin from late Monday afternoon through Monday evening and into the overnight hours of Monday night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Monday afternoon and evening:

The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a marginal risk of severe weather in central and southern Minnesota plus parts of western Wisconsin Monday afternoon into Monday night:

Marginal risk means that an isolated severe thunderstorm is possible.

Looking ahead a bit more, we could see scattered showers in the Twin Cities Tuesday afternoon/evening, then periods of rain are likely Tuesday night and Wednesday into Thursday, with a few t-storms also possible. Rain totals this week could reach one to two inches in the metro area and in many parts of southern/central Minnesota and western Wisconsin. 

Easter Sunday was on April 12 in 2020. It was a snowy Easter in the Twin Cities metro area, southern Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin:

MSP airport tallied 6.6 inches of snow last Easter.

The Minnesota State Climatology Office posted 

 of the Easter 2020 snow, including county by county snow totals. Here’s an excerpt from the Climatology Office summary: 

7.5 inches in Lakeville and 7.3 inches in Prior Lake were among the highest snow totals in the Twin Cities metro area last Easter.

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

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Our Sunday weather is gorgeous. Monday will be another warm day, but temps retreat after that. We’ll also see some rain this coming week; which is good news for many of us.

Warm today and Monday; much-needed rain is on the way this week

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