February thaw: 40 by Friday?

Snow wraps up

I wasn't very impressed by the snow that fell in the Twin Cities on Sunday. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, still used for snow records, recorded officially 0.1 inches.

The reason we even missed out on an inch of snow is that the upper level energy with the storm split as it moved across the region. Southeast South Dakota, southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa reported totals between 1 to 3 inches. Worthington measured 4 inches of new snow and Pipestone received 3 inches. West-central Minnesota fared a little better -- Little Falls and Brainerd each picked up 1.5 inches and Carlos added 1 inch.

Photo courtesy @evanrobertsnz  

Monday thaw

Air moving into the state Monday is mild Pacific, giving us a chance at temperatures 20 degrees warmer than the highs at the end of last week. Could be a few peeks of sun from time to time Monday, but generally cloudy sums it up best. The little bit of snow we had this weekend ends up being a distant memory with the high temperature able to creep into the lower 30s Monday afternoon. Odds of a 40-degree high by the end of the week are above 70 percent.

Courtesy of the National Weather Service Twin Cities

Second clipper

An active weather pattern with only minor disturbances at play returns late Monday night into Tuesday. Light snow develops over most of the state after midnight, wrapping up by midmorning Tuesday.

Dynamics with this clipper are a little bit stronger; unless the track shifts east 100 miles or more the snowfall amounts will still be under an inch for the metro area.

Courtesy of tropicaltidbits.com

Ice sculpture event canceled

All weekend it seemed everywhere I turned the media was covering the Arctic cold hitting the Northeast. Standards for cold weather are different for each part of the nation, but canceling the Central Park Ice Festival in New York City because of cold weather Saturday? I'm still scratching my head over this and you probably are, too.

Here is a look at some of the lowest wind chills recorded in the New York City area early Sunday.

Courtesy of College of DuPage Weather. Under remarks is the wind chill abbreviated WCI.

Take a look at this frozen fountain in New York this weekend.

Record warmth

There has been a large dome of high pressure over the eastern Pacific Ocean for the past week. East of this ridge in the Southwest and Rockies the weather has been unusually warm. Over the next five days this ridge moves to the east, centers over Idaho and Arizona around Tuesday and then moves over Kansas north to Minnesota by late Thursday or Friday.

Record high temperatures are possible in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and southern Iowa.

For us, it won't exactly hit record levels, but it'll be the warmest temperatures we've felt in quite a few weeks. Breaking the 40-degree mark seems likely in the eastern half of the state; deeper snow in the southwest and south-central Minnesota may hinder temps slightly, but plenty of snow will melt by the end of this week.

Courtesy: Tropicaltidbits.com GEM model 2m temperatures for Feb. 19.