Record high within reach; mild weekend, rain and snow Sunday night
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There's something to be said for low-hanging fruit.
Sharp eyes at the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service noticed that the Jan. 4 record high in the Twin Cities is our lowest record high during the entire month of January:
https://twitter.com/NWSTwinCities/status/1081160665132396544
We'll have a real shot at tying or breaking that record high this Friday afternoon. Highs in the 40s are possible across much of southern Minnesota, with mostly 30s central and north.
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Temperature trends
Our average Twin Cities metro area high is 24 degrees this time of year. We could reach the lower 40s Saturday afternoon.
Saturday highs are expected to range from the upper 20s in far northwestern Minnesota to 40s in the southeast:
Sunday highs will be mainly in the 20s in the northern half of Minnesota, with 30s south:
Twin Cities metro area highs remain in the 30s Monday and Tuesday, followed by 20s next Wednesday.
January 2018 flip-flops
Last January started out incredibly cold. The Twin Cities metro area had single-digit high temps on three of the first five days of January. The beginning of January 2018 was a continuation of the long stretch of arctic chill that began on Christmas Day of 2017.
Temps rebounded by Jan. 7, and the official Twin Cities high reached 42 degrees on Jan.9, 2018. Arctic chill returned for Jan. 12 through Jan. 16, then highs returned to the 40s for Jan. 18 through Jan. 20 of last year:
We saw one additional high temp in the 40s during the remainder of the month, on Jan. 26.
Talk about a wild ride!
Snow depth
The latest Minnesota snow depth map from the Minnesota State Climatology Office shows plenty of snow cover across much of Minnesota but very little snow on the ground from the southeast half of the Twin Cities metro area into southeastern Minnesota:
Many locations will see their snow cover shrink a bit over the next few days, due to warm temps.
Rain and snow chances
There could be a bit of rain or snow Friday night in far northern Minnesota, near the Canadian border.
The next important weather system arrives late Sunday.
A mix of rain and snow could start in southwestern Minnesota late Sunday afternoon, and spread to the Twin Cities Sunday evening.
The mix might change to mostly snow in the metro area overnight Sunday night and end early on Monday. Northern Minnesota should see all snow Sunday night into Monday morning.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from Sunday afternoon through Monday morning:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of snow or rain.
The heaviest snow amounts Sunday night into Monday morning are expected to be over northeastern Minnesota:
As always, updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you will also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
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.