Tuesday stays warm, then colder air settles in

Skies will clear Tuesday, bringing a warm and sunny afternoon before the weather turns wet and colder again.

Tuesday’s forecast

An area of low pressure moving across Minnesota brought showers and storms through the overnight that are clearing out Tuesday morning. Here is the radar as of 8:38 a.m. showing the remaining areas of precipitation:

A few showers could linger into the afternoon in the Arrowhead. Widespread morning fog is also lifting and will clear by late morning.

Behind the rain and fog, skies clear out west to east through the morning and afternoon, returning more sunshine across the state. All of Minnesota will remain well above average through the day, and highs for most of the state will climb into the 50s and 60s.

The warmth is despite a cold front moving through the state that will bring breezy conditions by afternoon.

Wednesday’s forecast

The cold front Tuesday will drop temperatures across most of the state 10 to 15 degrees by Wednesday, putting highs mostly in the 40s and 50s. A second cold front passes through Wednesday, bringing more precipitation.

Northern Minnesota could see isolated light rain or snow overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning, but the best chance for precipitation with the cold front comes for southern Minnesota during the day on Wednesday with scattered rain showers likely.

The cold front will also bring windy conditions across the state, with most of the state seeing wind gusts near 30 mph or higher, especially Wednesday afternoon.

Extended forecast

Behind Wednesday’s front, even colder air moves in for Thursday, putting most of the state at least 5 to 10 degrees below average. Temperatures slowly warm back closer to average by Saturday.

Here is the temperature trend for the Twin Cities showing the temperature drops Wednesday and Thursday due to the two cold fronts, then the return to average by Saturday:

Saturday’s warmup is short-lived. By Sunday, temperatures are likely to drop again and the extended outlook for next week has the state running mostly below average, with many of the highs only in the 30s and 40s.

Precipitation chances also stay active, with a couple more disturbances bringing occasional light rain and light snow chances through the weekend.

All of this means Easter Sunday will be cool, with some precipitation likely for at least part of Minnesota.

So if you’re planning activities like hiding eggs, it might not hurt to have an indoor option!

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.