Freezing rain, heavy wind forecast for parts of Minnesota

A freezing rain advisory isn't a typical forecast for late April in Minnesota, but it's better than the ice storm warning that was called off for the Duluth area this morning.

Freezing rain fell in the Duluth area overnight, despite the spring thaw that's been warming the road temperatures and thawing the frost from the soil.

"I think it's pretty unusual to have a freezing rain advisory in late April," said meteorologist Geoff Grochocinski of the National Weather Service in Duluth.

The National Weather Service in Duluth announced an ice storm warning for the Twin Ports and Duluth region Sunday -- but that was called off around 4 a.m. Monday because the area didn't get quite as much rain as expected. An ice storm requires more than a quarter inch of freezing rain, according to Grochocinski.

The freezing rain advisory is in effect through 2 p.m. today. More mixed precipitation is in the forecast in Duluth tonight, Grochocinski said. In addition, the Twin Ports region is about 15 or 20 degrees below the temperature average for this time of year.

"We'll need to explore putting out another freezing rain advisory for the next day or two," said Grochocinski. "It's been unusually cold here for the past several days, and it's going to continue to be unusually cold for the next several days, at least. And we're well into spring now."

Grochocinski added that not only is an ice storm warning very unusual this time of year, but even a freezing rain advisory is something that's not typical of late April -- even for Duluth.

"From my experience, I haven't seen that before," he said. "That's because this time of year, generally we're getting warmer ... so the road temperatures have gotten warmer, and that makes it more difficult, at least on the roads, to get freezing rain."

A more typical forecast for this time of year: the rain that fell across most of the state over the past 24 hours. The heaviest rain fell across southern Minnesota and parts of west central Minnesota. An inch to an inch and a half fell over south central to central Minnesota, as well as up to an inch in west central Minnesota, according to Grochocinski.

"The least amount was in north central and northeastern Minnesota, and that's partly due to a high pressure system over Hudson Bay, bringing in dryer air from Canada, making it difficult for some of the rain to move into that area," he explained.

A flood warning for the Mississippi River near Aitkin will continue through early May, as a result of the recent snow melt working its way down through the river, along with the rain that continues to fall. Grand Forks is also forecasting river levels will rise with possible minor flooding, mostly along the Red River, Grochocinski added.

When will the sunshine show up? "Maybe sometime next week we can see sunshine," he said. "Most of this week, the low pressure system will be moving through the region, providing a chance of rain and windy conditions. It's not sometime until over the weekend maybe that this system moves out of the [Twin Ports] region."