A gorgeous Saturday; clouds and winds increase on Sunday, with rain in parts of Minnesota
Updated Minnesota snow depth map
It was great to see the sunshine on Friday, but we were still dealing with gusty winds.
We’ll have plenty of Saturday sunshine, with fairly light winds across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. A few gusts of 20-30 mph are possible Saturday afternoon in the Red River Valley of northwestern Minnesota.
Saturday highs will be in the 40s in much of northern Minnesota, with 50s for most of central and southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Some locations in and near the Red River Valley will also top 50 degrees Saturday afternoon. Twin Cities metro area highs are forecast to reach the low to mid 50s. Our average high is 54 degrees this time of year.
Sunday rain and flake chances highest west and north
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Rain showers are expected to move into much of western and northern Minnesota Sunday morning, possibly mixing with a few flakes, then continuing as rain in the afternoon. Rain coverage expands into central Minnesota during Sunday afternoon, then into east-central Minnesota, the Twin Cities metro area and northwestern Wisconsin Sunday evening. The precipitation in north-central Minnesota and northeastern Minnesota could transition to a rain/snow mix Sunday evening, then change over to all snow later Sunday night.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 2 a.m. Sunday to 11 p.m. Sunday:
NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid-Refresh (HRRR) model shows a similar precipitation pattern Sunday and Sunday evening, with fewer areas seeing a changeover to snow:
Some snow accumulation is expected in northern Minnesota late Sunday and Sunday night.
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.
Temperature trends
Sunday highs will reach the 40s in roughly the northwestern half of Minnesota, with 50s in the southeastern half of Minnesota and into western Wisconsin:
Sunday afternoon wind gusts will be highest in southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin:
Forecast wind gusts are in knots, with 20 knots equal to 23 mph.
Back to temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid 50s Monday and Tuesday, followed by lower 60s Wednesday, then upper 40s Thursday and lower 40s on Friday. The Twin Cities metro area will have a chance of rain showers Tuesday afternoon. Periods of rain are likely in the metro area Tuesday night, Wednesday and Wednesday night, and we could also see and hear a thunderstorm. Showers are likely on Thursday, possibly mixed with some flakes late Thursday and Thursday night.
Still plenty of snow up north
Snow lovers will be interested to know that there’s still plenty of snow on the ground in north-central and northeastern Minnesota. Here’s the weekly snow depth map from the Minnesota State Climatology Office:
Most of north-central Minnesota has 8 inches or more of snow on the ground. Northeastern Minnesota has 12 inches or more of snow on the ground, with 18 inches or more of snow cover in portions of eastern Lake County and 24 inches or more of snow cover in much of Cook County.
Weather nugget
On average, April is the windiest month of the year in the Twin Cities. It was windy Friday, and it’ll will be windy Sunday afternoon and this coming Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
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.