Periods of rain Sunday & Sun. evening; wintry mix far northern Minn. later tonight

Portions of northern Minnesota are still in drought, so today’s rain is welcome, even if it interferes with some outdoor plans.

Rain coverage will expand to include much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin Sunday afternoon, then continue into Sunday evening. There will be some breaks in the rain at times, and far northern Minnesota may see their rain begin later in the afternoon.

There is also a chance of thunderstorms Sunday afternoon and evening.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 7 p.m. Sunday to noon on Monday:

NOAA’s Finite Volume Cubed Sphere (FV3) model shows a similar precipitation pattern:

Colder air wraps into the circulation later Sunday night, creating a wintry mix in parts of northern Minnesota. that wintry mix will continue in parts of northern Minnesota through much of Monday morning.

A winter weather advisory (blue) runs from 1 a.m. Monday to 1 p.m. Monday in a portion of northeastern Minnesota:

Here are details of the winter weather advisory:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Duluth MN 227 AM CDT Sun Apr 28 2024 MNZ012-021-290000- /O.NEW.KDLH.WW.Y.0017.240429T0600Z-240429T1800Z/ Northern Cook and Lake-Southern Cook- Including the cities of Isabella and Grand Marais 227 AM CDT Sun Apr 28 2024 ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM TO 1 PM CDT MONDAY... * WHAT...Mixed precipitation expected. Total ice accumulations of around one tenth of an inch and snow accumulations of up to one inch. Winds gusting as high as 45 mph. * WHERE...Northern Cook and Lake and Southern Cook Counties. This includes the Tribal Lands of the Grand Portage Reservation. * WHEN...From 1 AM to 1 PM CDT Monday. * IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions on the Gunflint Trail. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Main concern is across the higher terrain of the North Shore. Not expecting ice accumulations on Highway 61 or locales adjacent to Lake Superior. The Gunflint Trail should be impacted though. Road temperatures may be warm enough to limit ice accumulations. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Slow down and use caution while traveling. The latest road conditions can be obtained by calling 5 1 1. Road conditions can also be found at 511mn.org for Minnesota or 511wi.gov for Wisconsin.

A wind advisory runs from 4 p.m. Sunday to 10 a.m. Monday in Carlton County and far southern St. Louis County, and from 4 p.m. Sunday to 4 p.m. Monday in areas of Lake County and Cook County along and near the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Here are details of the wind advisory which includes Duluth:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Duluth MN 217 AM CDT Sun Apr 28 2024 MNZ037-282300- /O.CON.KDLH.WI.Y.0005.240428T2100Z-240429T1500Z/ Carlton and South St. Louis- Including the cities of Duluth 217 AM CDT Sun Apr 28 2024 ...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 10 AM CDT MONDAY... * WHAT...East winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected. * WHERE...Carlton and South St. Louis County. This includes the Tribal Lands of the Fond du Lac Band. * WHEN...From 4 PM this afternoon to 10 AM CDT Monday. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution. && $$ For more information on Northland weather, visit www.weather. gov/duluth

There’s a gale warning posted for Lake Superior that begins at 1 p.m. Sunday and continues to 4 p.m. Monday.

Severe weather outlook

The updated severe weather outlook from the NWS Storm Prediction Center shows that some non-severe thunderstorms are possible in Minnesota and western Wisconsin Sunday afternoon and evening:

Here are the severe weather risk categories that are used by the NWS Storm Prediction Center:

Updated forecast information will be posted by the National Weather Service offices in the Twin Cities, Duluth, La Crosse, Wis., Sioux Falls, S.D. and Grand Forks, N.D.

Temperature trends

The average Twin Cities high temperature is 62 degrees on April 28. Metro area highs will be closer to 50 degrees Sunday afternoon.

Many areas will have Sunday highs in the 40s, with some 50s in far northwestern Minnesota and in parts of the far south.

Monday highs will be in the 40s in many areas, with 50s in far southern Minnesota:

Some spots in the metro area could touch 50 degrees Monday afternoon.

Tuesday will be the warmest day of the coming week, with highs in the 70s in the metro area plus southern Minnesota, with 60s and 50s to the north:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 60s Wednesday, followed by mid 60s Thursday then upper 50s Friday.

Weather nugget

Peak wind gusts of 30 mph or higher have been reported at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on 24 of 27 days this April.

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.