Sunday will be a few degrees warmer, but windier; temps retreat this coming week
Updated February temperature outlook
Our Saturday morning sunshine was great, and it left some of us scrambling to find those sunglasses that we haven’t needed for awhile. Before Saturday morning, we hadn’t seen significant sunshine in the Twin Cities since January 21.
Most of Minnesota should see a cloud/sun mix on Sunday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the percentage of cloud cover as we go through Sunday:
Winds pick up
Winds were already increasing Saturday evening in North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. A wind advisory runs from 10 p.m. Saturday through 9 a.m. Sunday in several Minnesota counties along the Red River:
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Winds of 25 to 35 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph are expected. Winds could gust over 40 mph on Sunday in much of western and northern Minnesota. The Twin Cities metro area could see gusts over 30 mph at times Sunday afternoon.
You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
Temperature trends
Our Saturday high temp was 37 degrees at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. That was 12 degrees warmer than our average Feb. 1 high in the Twin Cities.
Sunday highs reach the 40s in about the southern half of Minnesota plus western Wisconsin:
Northern Minnesota will see mostly 30s.
The strong winds will create early-afternoon wind chills in the 20s to the north, with 30s south:
Wind chills are based on sustained winds, not wind gusts.
High temperatures will be cooler on Monday, then much cooler on Tuesday. Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 20s Monday and around 20 on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by highs in the upper 20s Thursday and Friday.
Some forecast models show some very chilly temperatures around mid-February, but that could change. The February temperature outlook from the NWS Climate Prediction Center indicated equal chances that our average temperature over the entire month will be near-normal, warmer than normal or colder than normal in Minnesota and Wisconsin:
Our average temperature for the month of January was 5 degrees warmer than normal in the Twin Cities.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.