Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Saturday snow recap for the north; bright and dry on Sunday

Some 70s on Monday

Parts of northeastern Minnesota had several inches of wet snow Saturday. Snow reports for northeastern Minnesota will continue to be posted by the NWS here.

This is how the linked snowfall map looked around 4 p.m. Saturday:

rt0327snowmp
Saturday snow reports through 4 p.m.
National Weather Service

The highest total posted at that point was 5.5 inches from Orr, Minnesota, which is in northwestern St. Louis County.

The snow and rain/snow mix lingers into Saturday evening in northeastern Minnesota, then moves off to the east. Here’s the NWS discussion, with “tonight” referring to Saturday night:

Our rain in the Twin Cities will linger into Saturday evening, then shift eastward. The rain could mix with wet flakes in parts of west-central Wisconsin Saturday night. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern for Saturday evening and through the overnight hours of Saturday night:

rt0327rad4
Simulated radar Saturday evening and overnight Saturday night
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Temperature trends

Our average March 28 high temperature is 48 degrees in the Twin Cities. Metro area highs will be slightly above 50 degrees on Sunday. Highs in the 50s are expected this Sunday in roughly the southern half of Minnesota, with 40s in northern Minnesota:

rt0328h8
Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday afternoon wind gusts are expected to be in the 12-20 mph range in most areas:

rt0328g8
Sunday 1 p.m. forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

Plotted gusts are in knots, with 15 knots equal to about 17 mph. Gusts could top 20 mph in parts of southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin on Sunday.

Back to temperatures, Monday highs will reach 70 degrees or higher in roughly the southern half of Minnesota, with 60s in most of northern Minnesota. Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be around 70 on Monday, followed by mid 40s Tuesday, lower 40s Wednesday, 50 on Thursday and lower 60s on Friday.

Next weekend and the following week look very mild to warm. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a strong tendency for above-normal temps in Minnesota and Wisconsin from April 4 through April 10:

rt0327ext2
Temperature outlook April 4 through April 10
NWS Climate Prediction Center

Let the outdoor fun begin!

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.