Showers in northern Minnesota Sun. a.m., then they spread to the south Sun. p.m.

Record Mississippi River levels on this date in 1965

I’ll get to the Sunday forecast shortly, but I’ll start with a note about river levels. This is the time of year that we’ve seen some very high river levels in the past.

The highest Mississippi River level ever reported at the St. Paul gauge was on April 16, 1965:

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Mississippi River crest history at St. Paul
NOAA/NWS/U.S. Geological Survey

The Mississippi River was about 12 feet above flood stage at St. Paul that day. Four of the next five highest levels recorded at St. Paul were between April 13 and April 18.

Currently, the Mississippi River is about 6.4 feet below flood stage at St. Paul:

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Mississippi River at St. Paul
NOAA/NWS/U.S. Geological Survey

Harriet Island Regional Park is well above the waters of the Mississippi River right now:

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Mississippi River and Harriet Island Park in St. Paul, Saturday afternoon
St. Paul webcam

Sunday temps and winds

A cold front will move into northwestern Minnesota Sunday morning, then slowly advance southeastward Sunday afternoon and evening.

Northwestern Minnesota will have Sunday highs in the 40s, with 60s in roughly the southern half of Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday wind gusts of over 25 mph are expected in northwestern Minnesota:

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

Plotted gusts are in knots, with 17 knots equal to 19.6 mph. Wind gusts of 16-22 mph are on tap for eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Rain/snow chances

Periods of rain showers are expected in much of northwestern and north-central Minnesota Sunday morning. The showers could mix with a few snow flakes at times.  Rain showers spread to the east and southeast Sunday afternoon. A few showers could arrive in parts of the Twin Cities metro area late Sunday afternoon, with the shower chance lingering into Sunday evening. We could also see a mix of rain showers and a few flakes overnight Sunday night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Sunday and Sunday evening:

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Simulated radar Sunday and Sunday evening
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

The coming work week will start out very chilly. Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be in the lower 40s Monday, followed by mid 40s Tuesday and upper 40s Wednesday. Our highs rebound to the upper 50s Thursday and the lower 60s on Friday.  

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.