Chilly air exiting; quiet, mild week coming

Sunday has been an uneventful weather day. Winds diminished and temperatures climbed slowly under sunny skies except for lingering cloud cover over northeastern Minnesota.

By midafternoon, the whole state was sunny. Visible satellite photos showed the extent of snow cover over southern and northwestern Minnesota. Snow doesn’t show up as well in the forests of the northeast.

Sunday temperatures are running a little warmer than average. Most of Minnesota except the far north had warmed into the 30s by midafternoon. The Twin Cities average high for this date is 30.

A drama-free, unseasonably mild week

A quick look at weather for the Twin Cities area for the upcoming week calls for highs from the upper 30s to upper 40s with little or no precipitation.

Mild Presidents’ Day

Monday, Presidents’ Day, will bring an increase in clouds, milder temperatures and light winds. Look for highs from the low 30s north to the low 40s south.

The Twin Cities should reach about 38 degrees with a southeast breeze of just 5-10 mph. Forecast highs also include 34 for Bemidji in northern Minnesota, 35 for Willmar in the west-central part of the state and 42 in Austin, near the Iowa border.

Warm Wednesday; mild weekend ahead

It’s challenging to decide when to refer to a winter day as warm. But Wednesday’s forecast highs of 30s north, mid 40s for central Minnesota including the Twin Cities, and upper 40s to low 50s south should suffice.

A weak cold front will cool the state a bit by Friday, but for just one day.

Next weekend is likely to be rather mild. And maybe even warm by Sunday.

Split flow keeps storms away from Minnesota

We are in a split flow pattern where one storm track passes to our north across Canada while the track across the U.S. stays to our south. In this case, the storm poised to soak California Sunday night and Monday will weaken as it crosses various mountains, redevelop well east of the Rocky Mountains, and track east across southern parts of the Midwest such as Iowa, Illinois and Indiana later in the week.

Mild pattern looks to linger longer

The upcoming mild pattern seems likely to be another long-lived spell of unseasonably mild temperatures. The outlook from Feb. 25 through March 2 calls for a huge area from Minnesota and Wisconsin south to Texas and Louisiana likely to be warmer than average.