Quiet start to the week, then snow in some areas Tuesday into Wednesday
Heaviest snow in northern Minnesota
It was a bright and breezy Sunday. After a chilly morning, temperatures rebounded nicely Sunday afternoon.
The Sunday high temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 40 degrees, which is just three degrees shy of the average March 19 high temp in the Twin Cities.
Most of Minnesota had Sunday highs in the 30s, but a few spots topped 40 degrees. There were some 20s in northwestern Minnesota.
Temperature trends
Monday highs will be in the 20s in far western Minnesota and in northern Minnesota, with mainly 30s elsewhere:
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Parts of southeastern Minnesota will reach the lower 40s.
Tuesday highs will top 40 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area and parts of southern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin, with mainly 30s elsewhere:
There’ll be some upper 20s in northeastern Minnesota.
Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be in the upper 30s on Wednesday and Thursday, then around 40 on Friday.
Next snow opportunity
A low pressure system is expected to spread precipitation into Minnesota and Wisconsin late Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon and then the precipitation lingers Tuesday night into early Wednesday in many areas.
It may be rain or a rain/snow mix in southern Minnesota, the Twin Cities metro area and west-central Wisconsin, with mainly snow over central and northern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 7 a.m. Tuesday to 10 a.m. Wednesday:
Several inches of snow are possible in roughly the northern half of Minnesota and portions of northwestern Wisconsin from Tuesday afternoon into early Wednesday. Much lower snow amounts are expected to the south, including the Twin Cities metro area.
The Duluth NWS office has this depiction of the Tuesday-Wednesday snow potential:
You can find updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network, and on the MPR News live weather blog.
Spring begins on Monday
Meteorological spring began on March 1 and runs through May.
Astronomical spring begins at 4:24 p.m. CDT this Monday March 20. This is sometimes referred to as the March equinox or the vernal or spring equinox.
According to timeanddate.com:
The March equinox is the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator—an imaginary line in the sky above Earth’s equator—from south to north. This happens on March 19, 20, or 21 every year.
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. Saturday and Sunday.