Breezy; Monday flakes
There isn't any arctic chill in our Sunday forecast.
That's good for our heating bills, and it's also good for outdoor activities.
Our average high temp is 25 degrees this time of year in the Twin Cities, but we'll be a few degrees warmer than that this afternoon.
Some spots in southern Minnesota could touch 30 degrees this Sunday afternoon.
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The coolest highs today will be in northeastern Minnesota, where upper teens are expected.
Monday's highs will top 30 degrees in many spots:
Mild January
The Twin Cities metro area saw several very cold days in the first half of January, but the past 14 days have been warmer than normal.
The preliminary January climate report for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, from the National Weather Service, has the daily temperature details:
The column labeled “DEP” is highlighted, since it shows each day’s departure from normal.
Days that have positive numbers in the “DEP” are warmer than normal, taking the average of the high and low temperature of each day.
We have tallied 19 warmer than normal days in the Twin Cities this January, and 9 days that were colder than normal.
Today's relatively mild temps will bring our total of warmer than normal January days to 20.
As of now, our average temperature for this month is 4.6 degrees above normal in the Twin Cities area.
Monday snow
An Alberta clipper is expected to bring snow to the northeastern half of Minnesota and northern Wisconsin Monday and Monday night.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern:
In the forecast loop, blue areas are where the precipitation is likely to be snow for that time in the loop. Green areas could be light rain or a rain/snow mix at that point in time.
The color chart on the lower right of the loop refers to the strength of the radar signal returning to the radar, not inches of snow!
The northeastern part of the Twin Cities metro area could see an inch or two of snow from Monday into early Tuesday, with less than an inch for the remainder of the metro area. Some light rain or drizzle could be mixed with the snow Monday afternoon and evening.
The highest snow totals are expected in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin, where some spots could see 4 to 6 inches of snow:
We'll keep you updated as new computer model information comes in.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.