Snow dwindling across Minnesota as springlike weather sets in
Warm weather melts away the remaining snow on Lake Nokomis Beach on March 19, 2022.
Tim Evans for MPR News File
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If you stepped outside recently, you definitely felt it. It’s starting to feel like spring!
Mild weather has wiped out most of the snow we got earlier in February. That has pushed events like the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon to move further north in search of better snow. But it is welcome news for those who are feeling ready for winter to be over.
MPR meteorologist Sven Sundgaard joins MPR News host Nina Moini with an outlook on the changing season.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: Well, if anyone stepped outside today, you can definitely feel it. It's starting to feel like spring. And this week's mild weather really wiped out most of the snow we got earlier this month, especially here in the Twin Cities area. And that's even pushed events like the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon to move farther north in search of better snow.
But it's good news if you're feeling ready for winter to be over. We had some really cold weeks. So here with the outlook on our changing season is MPR meteorologist Sven Sundgaard. Sven, thanks for being here.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Absolutely. Yeah, we've reached 50 degrees in the Twin Cities for our third consecutive day now.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Who would have thought that a week ago, when we were in the deep freeze?
NINA MOINI: I know. I know. And so I'm wondering, are these subtle signs of spring? What's going on?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Well, if you're from Minnesota long enough, we know better than to count on it being spring just yet--
NINA MOINI: Oh, come on. [LAUGHS]
SVEN SUNDGAARD: --but encouraging signs. Meteorological spring does begin on Saturday, so we're in the final--
NINA MOINI: Oh.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: --three days of winter on the meteorological calendar, regardless. And we've had a couple more signs of spring this week. We had our first lightning and thunder in the state on Monday afternoon around Camby and Marshall. That same thunderstorm produced the first ever February tornado in Watertown, South Dakota. Luckily, it didn't do that in Minnesota.
But we've been melting a lot of snow, as you mentioned. Twin Cities, St. Cloud, all of southern Minnesota, our snowpack is gone. Duluth is down to 7 inches from a foot is where they started over the weekend. International Falls is down to 6 inches of snow depth, down from 11 inches when we started the weekend.
And it all plays into what's been a very pitiful winter snowpack, as we've been talking about here. We've only had 47 days this winter of 1 inch or more of snow cover in the Twin Cities. Normal in a winter is 71 days.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: That's the modern average, even. So way below that, one-third less snow cover this winter. And anybody who cross-country skis or does any winter sports in the snow definitely knows that.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and then last year was super warm. And so as we're kind of winding down winter this year, how does it compare with last year, which just seemed so strange?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, last winter, of course, was off the charts, record warm. Nothing like that. This winter is going to end up being pretty close to normal--
NINA MOINI: Oh.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: --the 1991 to 2020 average, which is probably surprising to people because we did have some significant cold snaps in mid January and, of course, last week. But we've made up for it with some record warmth, too. So in the Twin Cities, we're going to end up just about 2/10 of a degree below normal, which is nothing, but a half degree below normal in Duluth.
And when we look at the historical record, we're still going to end up about 3 degrees warmer than normal from just 50 years ago. So winters of just half a century ago, this would still be a warmer than normal winter. And even February, it will end up a colder than normal month, but really making up for it because of these mild temperatures in the end.
And another way to measure this is despite being close to normal, we had more warm records broken this winter than any cold records, 188 record warm highs--
NINA MOINI: Wow.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: --or record warm overnights, compared to 110 cold records that were broken. So any way you look at it, it was a pretty average winter as far as the modern times go, but still much warmer than anybody would have recognized 50 to 100 years ago.
NINA MOINI: Huh. That's fascinating. What are you tracking for the rest of this week?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: More mild weather. We picked up a little light rain last night, anywhere from a few hundredths to a tenth of an inch of just plain old rain. We've got some sunshine out now. Still some clouds in northern Minnesota. We're, as I mentioned, in the low to mid 50s across southern Minnesota, 30s to the north.
And then we're looking at the next disturbance affecting mostly northeastern Minnesota. The next two disturbances are primarily going to be northern Minnesota events. Tonight, we'll see rain and snow showers for northern Minnesota.
Could see a slushy coating to up to an inch for parts of the North Shore, the Iron Range up to International Falls, and probably staying above freezing in the Twin Cities, probably low to mid 30s overnight for most of southern Minnesota, but mid 20s north. So any of that slush in northern Minnesota could turn icy overnight tonight.
NINA MOINI: And what do you think, Sven? I mean, I know sometimes it snows in April and whatnot, but any chance that we'll see any more snow anytime soon, you think?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: There is a chance as we head into early next week. We're watching a system potentially Tuesday that could bring more widespread chance of rain and snow. But northern Minnesota Friday looks like increasingly likely that there could be some significant snow into the Arrowhead, maybe 3 to 6 for places like Grand Marais up to International Falls.
But again, that system is going to stay well north of central and southern Minnesota. In fact, we could be back close to 50 degrees Friday afternoon in Southern Minnesota. And it's also going to be windy statewide Friday. We're talking about wind gusts that could be 35 to 50 miles an hour. So we may not get the precip here in southern Minnesota Friday. But we're all going to get the wind and some brief cold air that comes in behind it.
Saturday, we're looking at highs near freezing in southern Minnesota, maybe just upper teens and low 20s to the north. So it will be a little chillier Saturday, but then we're right back to the milder temperatures, more 40s, maybe 50s again, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
NINA MOINI: OK, I won't put away my heavier coats. Thanks, Sven.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Don't jinx us.
[LAUGHTER]
NINA MOINI: All right. Thank you, Sven.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: You're welcome.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard.
But it's good news if you're feeling ready for winter to be over. We had some really cold weeks. So here with the outlook on our changing season is MPR meteorologist Sven Sundgaard. Sven, thanks for being here.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Absolutely. Yeah, we've reached 50 degrees in the Twin Cities for our third consecutive day now.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Who would have thought that a week ago, when we were in the deep freeze?
NINA MOINI: I know. I know. And so I'm wondering, are these subtle signs of spring? What's going on?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Well, if you're from Minnesota long enough, we know better than to count on it being spring just yet--
NINA MOINI: Oh, come on. [LAUGHS]
SVEN SUNDGAARD: --but encouraging signs. Meteorological spring does begin on Saturday, so we're in the final--
NINA MOINI: Oh.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: --three days of winter on the meteorological calendar, regardless. And we've had a couple more signs of spring this week. We had our first lightning and thunder in the state on Monday afternoon around Camby and Marshall. That same thunderstorm produced the first ever February tornado in Watertown, South Dakota. Luckily, it didn't do that in Minnesota.
But we've been melting a lot of snow, as you mentioned. Twin Cities, St. Cloud, all of southern Minnesota, our snowpack is gone. Duluth is down to 7 inches from a foot is where they started over the weekend. International Falls is down to 6 inches of snow depth, down from 11 inches when we started the weekend.
And it all plays into what's been a very pitiful winter snowpack, as we've been talking about here. We've only had 47 days this winter of 1 inch or more of snow cover in the Twin Cities. Normal in a winter is 71 days.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: That's the modern average, even. So way below that, one-third less snow cover this winter. And anybody who cross-country skis or does any winter sports in the snow definitely knows that.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and then last year was super warm. And so as we're kind of winding down winter this year, how does it compare with last year, which just seemed so strange?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, last winter, of course, was off the charts, record warm. Nothing like that. This winter is going to end up being pretty close to normal--
NINA MOINI: Oh.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: --the 1991 to 2020 average, which is probably surprising to people because we did have some significant cold snaps in mid January and, of course, last week. But we've made up for it with some record warmth, too. So in the Twin Cities, we're going to end up just about 2/10 of a degree below normal, which is nothing, but a half degree below normal in Duluth.
And when we look at the historical record, we're still going to end up about 3 degrees warmer than normal from just 50 years ago. So winters of just half a century ago, this would still be a warmer than normal winter. And even February, it will end up a colder than normal month, but really making up for it because of these mild temperatures in the end.
And another way to measure this is despite being close to normal, we had more warm records broken this winter than any cold records, 188 record warm highs--
NINA MOINI: Wow.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: --or record warm overnights, compared to 110 cold records that were broken. So any way you look at it, it was a pretty average winter as far as the modern times go, but still much warmer than anybody would have recognized 50 to 100 years ago.
NINA MOINI: Huh. That's fascinating. What are you tracking for the rest of this week?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: More mild weather. We picked up a little light rain last night, anywhere from a few hundredths to a tenth of an inch of just plain old rain. We've got some sunshine out now. Still some clouds in northern Minnesota. We're, as I mentioned, in the low to mid 50s across southern Minnesota, 30s to the north.
And then we're looking at the next disturbance affecting mostly northeastern Minnesota. The next two disturbances are primarily going to be northern Minnesota events. Tonight, we'll see rain and snow showers for northern Minnesota.
Could see a slushy coating to up to an inch for parts of the North Shore, the Iron Range up to International Falls, and probably staying above freezing in the Twin Cities, probably low to mid 30s overnight for most of southern Minnesota, but mid 20s north. So any of that slush in northern Minnesota could turn icy overnight tonight.
NINA MOINI: And what do you think, Sven? I mean, I know sometimes it snows in April and whatnot, but any chance that we'll see any more snow anytime soon, you think?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: There is a chance as we head into early next week. We're watching a system potentially Tuesday that could bring more widespread chance of rain and snow. But northern Minnesota Friday looks like increasingly likely that there could be some significant snow into the Arrowhead, maybe 3 to 6 for places like Grand Marais up to International Falls.
But again, that system is going to stay well north of central and southern Minnesota. In fact, we could be back close to 50 degrees Friday afternoon in Southern Minnesota. And it's also going to be windy statewide Friday. We're talking about wind gusts that could be 35 to 50 miles an hour. So we may not get the precip here in southern Minnesota Friday. But we're all going to get the wind and some brief cold air that comes in behind it.
Saturday, we're looking at highs near freezing in southern Minnesota, maybe just upper teens and low 20s to the north. So it will be a little chillier Saturday, but then we're right back to the milder temperatures, more 40s, maybe 50s again, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
NINA MOINI: OK, I won't put away my heavier coats. Thanks, Sven.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Don't jinx us.
[LAUGHTER]
NINA MOINI: All right. Thank you, Sven.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: You're welcome.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard.
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