Sunday rain or mix in Minnesota; some areas see snow Sunday night and Monday

When you mention snow in late April, most Minnesotans aren't amused.

We've already mowed our lawns and some of us have already played a few rounds of golf.

High temps were in the upper 60s to around 70 just last weekend, but flakes are possible in parts of Minnesota Sunday into Monday.

Snow possibilities

A low pressure system is expected to move from eastern Kansas to western Wisconsin from Sunday into Monday.

It will spin plenty of moisture over Minnesota, with rain in much of Minnesota and a rain/snow mix in the colder air to the west and north.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern:

The GFS model shows potential snow accumulations Sunday night and Monday:

The Twin Cities metro area is expected to see mainly rain Sunday and Sunday night, but periods of rain could mix with some wet snow Monday and Monday night.

The best chance of seeing snow accumulations of 2 inches or more would be over parts of west central and central Minnesota, and into parts of northeastern Minnesota.

Most of the accumulating snow would be from Sunday night into Monday.

Here are the odds of snow accumulations, from the Twin Cities NWS:

As you can see in the graphic, much of Minnesota will see over an inch of precipitation (rain plus the water content of the snow that falls) from Sunday through Monday.

May snow

May begins on Monday.

As you might imagine, significant snow accumulations are rare in the Twin Cities.

The Minnesota State Climatology Office looked back at May snow in the Twin Cities:

Snow that falls in May is typically a novelty. The ground is usually too warm by May to allow much of an accumulation. Looking at past records for the Twin Cities, a trace of snow falls during the month of May fairly frequently. If the snow manages to accumulate it is generally under an inch and mostly on grassy surfaces. The most recent measureable Twin Cities snow event was 0.5 inches on May 3, 2013. About once every 30 years or so, there is a snow event that is enough to cover newly greened lawns and coat budding leaves. The last time there was a snow event in May greater than an inch in the Twin Cities was on May 2, 1976 with 1.2 inches.

So it has been 41 years  since we've seen a snowfall of one inch or more in the Twin Cities.

According to the Climatology Office, the most snow we've ever seen from a single May snowstorm in the Twin Cities is 3  inches.  That's happed three different times, most recently in 1946.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 and 9:35 a.m., plus 4:35 p.m., each Saturday and Sunday.