Weekend weather: Temps ramp up; spring arrives
Are day and night equal in length on the equinox?
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Meteorological spring began on March 1, now it’s time to talk about astronomical spring, which begins on Sunday.
The vernal equinox occurs at 10:33 a.m. this Sunday, March 20. According to earthsky.org:
The March equinox – also called the vernal equinox – marks the beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere
Day and night are not exactly the same length on the date of the equinox because we use the top of the rising or setting sun to define sunrise and sunset, rather than the center of the sun. There’s also some refraction or bending of the sun’s rays as they travel through the atmosphere, which adds to our minutes of daylight. More details on those two factors can be found here.
Weekend temps
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Our average March 19 high temp is 43 degrees in the Twin Cities. Some spots in the metro area will top out in the mid 50s this Saturday. Most of southern Minnesota will see Saturday highs in the 50s, with mainly 40s in the north.
A few spots in far southwestern Minnesota could top 60 degrees.
The Twin Cities metro area and most of southern Minnesota will see Sunday highs in the 60s, with 50s in central Minnesota and 40s to the north.
Rain or snow?
Far southeastern Minnesota could get clipped by a bit of rain or snow Friday night, but Saturday and Sunday look dry in most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 7 a.m. Saturday to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
Weather nugget
10 years ago today, on March 17, 2012, the Twin Cities high temperature reached 80 degrees. That’s the earliest in the year that we’ve seen 80 degrees in the Twin Cities, based on weather records that date back to 1872.
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.
