50s, 60s this weekend; southern Minnesota sees 70s Tuesday, Wednesday

I’m seeing more grass poking out from the melting snow with each passing day. South-facing lawns are mainly snow-free in some neighborhoods.

The latest Minnesota snow depth map shows substantial snow cover across most of central and northern Minnesota:

The map shows snow depths of 18 inches or more in about the northern third of Minnesota, with snow depths of 36 inches or more in portions of Lake County and Cook County of northeastern Minnesota.

Snow depths will be shrinking as temperatures ramp up this weekend and into the coming week.

Sunday shower chance

Most of Minnesota is expected to stay dry Friday night, with a late night sprinkle possible in eastern Minnesota. Parts of western Wisconsin could see a few patchy showers Friday night.

An upper-level disturbance could spawn some showers on Sunday, beginning in the morning in western Minnesota, then spreading eastward. The Sunday shower chance in the Twin Cities metro area appears to be anytime from around midday into the afternoon.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 6 a.m. Sunday to 7 p.m. Sunday:

Check forecast updates. You can find updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network.

Temperature trends

The average Twin Cities high temperature on April 8 is 53 degrees. Twin Cities metro area highs are expected to be in the lower 60s Saturday.

Saturday highs will range from mainly 40s in northern and west-central Minnesota to 60s in southeastern Minnesota:

Sunday highs will once again range from 40s northwest to 60s in southeastern Minnesota:

Temperatures will rise higher as we go from Monday into Wednesday.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid-60s on Monday, followed by mid-70s Tuesday and upper 70s on Wednesday.

Wednesday will feature highs in the 70s across much of the southern half of Minnesota plus most of western Wisconsin:

Spring flood update

The National Weather Service released an update on potential spring flooding due to snowmelt.

Here’s their overview:

Here are factors that will effect river level rises this spring:

Thankfully, heavy rain (or snow) are not in the forecast the next few days.

The Duluth NWS office posted a spring flood outlook here.

Gauges track rising rivers

You can find info on river levels at various locations here.

This is how the linked map looked this afternoon:

You can zoom in on the linked map page and get detailed info on river levels at a specific location. Here’s the hydrograph of recent, current and forecast levels for the Mississippi River at St. Paul:

A rise of roughly 4 feet is expected at that location in the next week, with additional rises likely next weekend and beyond.

Here’s the hydrograph of recent, current and forecast levels for the St. Croix River at Stillwater, Minnesota:

A rise of 5 feet is expected in the next week, with an additional substantial rise possible the following week.

Let’s hope we don’t get significant rainfall anytime soon.

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.