Cold, windy Friday; shovelable snow Sunday afternoon, night
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Welcome to February in April!
Many people smile when we have April weather in February, but when you flip that scenario they aren't amused.
Our average high is 53 degrees this time of year in the Twin Cities metro area. We'll top out in the 20s this Friday afternoon.
It'll be windy all day, so Minnesota wind chill temperatures will be in the single digits either side of zero for most of the day. Parts of northern Minnesota will have wind chill temps in the teens below zero into early afternoon.
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If it's any consolation, April is our windiest month of the year in the Twin Cities, according to the Minnesota State Climatology Office:
Bad hair days in April aren't that unusual.
Temperature trends
Cold temperatures will linger through the weekend.
Most of Minnesota will have highs in the upper 20s to lower 30s on Saturday:
Similar highs are on tap for Sunday:
Twin Cities metro area highs rebound to the upper 30s on Monday of next week, followed by lower 40s on Tuesday.
We could reach the upper 40s on Wednesday, and 50 degrees on Thursday. That'll be a nice change!
Sunday snow
Remember, I'm just the messenger.
It still looks like snow will move into west-central and southwestern Minnesota Sunday morning, then spread into the metro area, southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin Sunday afternoon.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern Sunday through early Monday:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the precipitation rate (mm per hour), not to the total amount of rain or snow.
The GFS model shows the highest snow amounts in southern Minnesota:
The Canadian forecast model shows a bit higher snow amounts to the southwest:
The Twin Cities metro area could see anywhere from about 3 to 4 inches of snow from Sunday afternoon into very early Monday morning, with some 5-inch amounts possible in the southwestern corner of the metro.
Check forecast updates, because a shift in the storm track would shift the snow amounts.
Here's the National Weather Service snow forecast:
Cherry blossoms
Yesterday was declared the peak of the cherry blossom bloom in Washington D.C.:
According to the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang:
The April 5 peak is the latest since 2014 and 2015, when the blossoms reached full bloom April 10, and about a week later than the recent 30-year average of March 31.
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 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.