Rain, ice, snow slowly clear out Friday; sun Saturday
Statewide sunshine returns Saturday
A potent spring storm has left lingering areas of rain, freezing rain, and snow across Minnesota Friday. By Saturday, temperatures start to rebound and sunshine prevails.
Friday’s forecast
As of Friday morning, a strong cold front affecting Minnesota since Thursday has now moved through all of Minnesota except the Arrowhead. It will move completely out of the state by midday.
Because of this, the entire state will be noticeably colder Friday, with most of the afternoon temperatures only in the 20s or low 30s.
The colder air means more of the lingering precipitation through Friday is already or will become freezing rain, sleet, or snow.
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Northwestern Minnesota has seen the biggest impact from the storm, with many reports of more than 6 inches of snow from Thursday through Friday morning. The highest report as of 9 a.m. Friday was 11 inches of snow near Greenbush.
Because of the lingering snow, that part of the state continues under a winter storm warning until Friday afternoon (pink).
Much of eastern Minnesota is still under a winter weather advisory (purple) for possible light freezing rain and snow. The warning and advisory areas will diminish through the day as precipitation clears out.
Northern Minnesota could see and an additional 1 to 3 inches of snow through Friday, while any additional precipitation for the rest of the state will remain lighter.
In fact, most of the precipitation has already ended for southwestern Minnesota and that corner of the state could see sunshine by the afternoon. Other areas of precipitation will continue to clear out west to east, clearing all of western Minnesota by early afternoon.
Then all the precipitation moves out by late Friday. Here is the forecast timing of when the precipitation will end:
Extended forecast
Sunshine returns across Minnesota by Saturday, and temperatures start to recover, with highs mostly in the 40s.
Sunday brings a few more clouds, especially later in the day, but temperatures will be even warmer with much of the state in the 50s. It will be a pleasant weekend to get outside!
Monday and Tuesday isolated chances for rain showers and even thunderstorms return, and there may be some isolated snow mixing in for northern Minnesota.
However, temperatures will stay above average, with parts of southern Minnesota making into the 60s. Here is that extended forecast for the Twin Cities:
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.