Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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I know, it’s the weekend and many people would like to see dry weather.

Unfortunately, periods of rain will continue over much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin Saturday afternoon into Sunday morning. There could be a few thunderstorms embedded in the rain pattern at times. Some 1 to 2 inch rainfall totals are possible this weekend. Gusty winds are expected in most areas.

By Sunday afternoon, the best chance of rain may slide off into northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 5 a.m. Sunday to 11 p.m. on Sunday:

NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid-Refresh (HRRR) model shows a similar Sunday/Sunday evening rain pattern, but it pulls the rain out of southern Minnesota more quickly :

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News 

, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News 

Flood warnings continue along the Red River and along some smaller rivers in northwestern Minnesota. Parts of northwestern Minnesota could see 2 or more inches of rain over the next 36 hours. A flood watch (dark green) continues in much of northwestern Minnesota until Sunday morning:

A flood watch starts Saturday afternoon and runs until Sunday evening along and near the North Shore of Lake Superior:

There is also a flood watch starting Saturday night for the Mississippi River at Aitkin, Minnesota:

 site shows river gauges across our region. You can click on any gauge at that site to get recent and current river levels plus the forecast levels over the next few days.

Much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have Saturday highs in the 50s. There will be some 40s in the northern third of Minnesota.

Sunday highs will be mainly in the 40s, with some spots in southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin topping 50:

Some spots in the Twin Cities will touch 50 degrees Sunday afternoon.

Sunday afternoon wind gusts could be in the 25 to 30 mph range in portions of western and south-central Minnesota:

Forecast gusts are in knots, with 20 knots equal to 23 mph.

Back to temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 50s Monday, followed by mid 50s Tuesday, around 60 Wednesday, then lower 60s Thursday and Friday.

The official Twin Cities snowfall total at MSP airport is just 1.6 inches this April. The Twin Cities snowfall total for the 2021-2022 snow season sits at 50.2 inches. That’s very close to our (30-year) Twin Cities average snow season total of 51.2 inches. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

It’s been a wet morning. A pesky low pressure system will continue to give Minnesota and western Wisconsin periods of rain Saturday afternoon into early Sunday. We have details about that, plus updated flood watches in parts of northern Minnesota.

Periods of rain Saturday into Sunday AM; milder temps return midweek

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