Blizzard warnings in Northwest Minnesota, winter weather advisories across the state

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It was a gorgeous weekend across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, with comfortable temperatures and dew points.

There is still some smoke aloft, originating from wildfires in western Canada. That smoke was thickest Sunday afternoon over the northern half of Minnesota and over northern Wisconsin. Some of that thicker smoke could spread southward Sunday night into Monday. The smoke is expected to remain mainly aloft, but it will give us reddish-orange sunsets and sunrises.

The Sunday afternoon high temp at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport was 79 degrees. That’s 8 degrees warmer than the Twin Cities average high temp on May 21.

Much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin had Sunday highs in the 70s, with lower 80s in parts of west-central and southwestern Minnesota. Some areas near Lake Superior saw morning highs in the 60s then afternoon temps in the 50s and 40s after winds shifted and began to come in off of the lake. 

Monday highs will reach the lower 80s over western Minnesota, with upper 70s to around 80 elsewhere:

There will be some 60s near Lake Superior

Tuesday highs reach the 80s in most areas:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 80s on Tuesday, followed by lower 70s Wednesday and Thursday then upper 70s on Friday.

It looks like above-normal temps will continue next weekend and into the start of the following week. Here’s the May 27 through May 31 temperature outlook from the NWS Climate Prediction Center:

That’s good to see, since the outlook covers the Memorial Day weekend.

Parts of northeastern Minnesota could see a passing sprinkle Sunday night or Monday morning.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible in northern Minnesota Tuesday and Tuesday evening. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 5 a.m. Tuesday to 11 p.m. Tuesday:

That rain chance shifts southward Tuesday night into early Wednesday.

You can find updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News 

Several rivers reached a second spring crest in recent days, thanks to the heavy rain that fell over portions of southern Minnesota last weekend and the previous Wednesday night and Thursday.

You can check the river levels at various locations in Minnesota and western Wisconsin 

. This is how the linked map looked Sunday afternoon:

You can zoom in on the linked map page and get detailed info on river levels at a specific location.

River levels are measured in relation to the height above a local benchmark. In some locations, river levels are listed in feet above sea level.

Here’s the hydrograph of recent, current and forecast levels for the Minnesota River at Jordan, which is at moderate flood stage, but is expected to lower to minor flood stage Sunday evening:

The Minnesota River at Jordan will fall through the coming week.

The Mississippi River at St. Paul is at minor flood stage, having crested slightly below moderate flood stage this weekend. The Mississippi River at St. Paul is forecast to fall through the coming week:

The first 2023 spring crest of the Mississippi River at St. Paul was 18.24 feet, on April 26.

You can check the latest flood statement from the Twin Cities NWS office 

. Just click on the “Text Data” tab at the linked site.

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.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

After a beautiful weekend, many areas will see summery temps on Monday and Tuesday. We take a look at the week ahead and also have an update on river levels.

Summery temps Monday and Tuesday, then a couple of cooler days

Go Deeper.

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