Wintry mix likely up north Friday night into Saturday

Warmer weather is on its way. Temperatures will moderate slowly over the weekend, then begin to feel more like April in midweek. A couple of weak weather disturbances will bring scatterings of rain and snow.

First weather wrinkle coming on Friday

Light snow will spread across northern Minnesota for Friday and Friday night. A few inches of accumulation are possible. The snow could easily become mixed with light freezing rain Friday night.

The National Weather Service has posted a winter weather advisory for the North Shore of Minnesota including Two Harbors, Silver Bay and Grand Marais and northwestern Wisconsin including Superior, Brule and Bayfield from Friday night into Saturday morning.

Snowfalls of 1 to 4 inches, and a bit more up toward Grand Marais, are likely along with the potential for one-tenth or two-tenths of an inch of ice.

The Twin Cities will likely see a little rain from Friday evening into the night.

Moderating temperatures

High temperatures Friday afternoon should be in the 30s in the north to mostly 40s in the southern half of the state. Parts of southern Minnesota, especially those with bare ground, should warm into the low 50s.

Nearly dry Saturday

Light snow and freezing drizzle could linger in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin Saturday morning. The rest of Minnesota will have a dry day. High temperatures will be from the mid-30s up north to the mid-40s south, including the Twin Cities.

Warmer Easter Sunday

Sunday’s high temperatures should reach the upper 40s in the Twin Cities, which is close to average for the end of March.

Another weather ripple Sunday-Monday

Another weak weather system will bring rain and maybe some snow across about the southern half of Minnesota from Sunday into Monday. Rain could reach the Twin Cities late Sunday afternoon or early evening and continue into Monday.

The warmup will accelerate beginning in midweek. Wednesday could actually feel like April.

Next Friday looks balmy

Temperature outlook toward mid-April

Beyond next Friday, the temperature outlook for April 5-11 calls for the warmer-than-normal temperatures to continue well into April.

But let me take you back one year

Late March can be a rough time of year. Last year, a blizzard warning was issued for the Twin Cities for the night of March 31-April 1. Heavy, very wet wind-driven snow, 8.5 inches of it, fell on the Twin Cities.

Downed tree branches caused power outages. Snow removal was difficult as smaller snowblowers struggled with the sticky, packed snow. It was a punctuation mark on the winter that just wouldn’t give up.