Play Ball! Warmest week in 6 months ahead

Sunday was like a dream.

Did I really see neighbors walking by in shorts and lines around the block at my local ice cream shop? Like a time warp, birds sang and snow vanished. Something in the sky just changed.

It's as if spring just magically appeared out of nowhere. No hyperactive weather people babbling about the next winter storm track. The last few ice fishermen standing stunned on slushy ice getting a sunburn.

• 62 degrees -- high at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Sunday

• Oct. 11 -- last time the metro was warmer than Sunday (75 degrees)

• 4 inches -- snow melted at MSP Airport Sunday

• Trace -- snow depth at MSP Airport this morning

• 16 inches -- ice thickness on Carsons Bay on Lake Minnetonka Sunday

[image]

Play ball!

After the coldest winter season in 78 years, the cheers reverberating through downtown Minneapolis may be as much about the end of winter and arrival of Opening Day as for the Twins taking the field at around 3:10 p.m. this afternoon.

You may want to grab the light jacket that includes some rain protection too. Temps should hover in the mid-50s at game-time and there is a risk of showers.

Warmest week in 6 months

Yes, Sunday was the warmest day in nearly 6 months since Oct. 11. The mercury hit 75 degrees that day. If Minnesotans knew then what they know now about our winter to come, we might have witnessed a mass exodus south along Interstate 35.

This looks like the warmest week in six months, since mid-October. That was the last time we strung together seven days in a row at or above 50 degrees in the metro.

We should match that feat again this week. Starting with Sunday's 62 degree temp this should be the warmest week in six months. A week in the 50s and 60s with two shots at 70 degrees (Wednesday and Saturday) will feel really nice. Enough to make us forget the brutal winter that was? Not quite yet.

Coldest winter season in 78 years?

Just in case you wanted one more way to measure the pain and misery we endured this past winter, here it is. The Twin Cities National Weather Service reports the period December through March was the coldest in 78 years. Are my fingers still numb?

Going, going, gone

The beauty of 10 inches of April snow on Friday? It's gone by Sunday. Here's a look at the vanishing snow pack across the southwest half of Minnesota. There's still plenty of deep snow pack up north for now, but it takes a hit this milder week.

Enjoy the milder week ahead. There are signs of a cool down next week, before another spring temp surge the following weekend.

Stay tuned!