So, are we done with snow?

It's the weather elephant in Minnesota's April back yard.

Milder days now visit Minnesota. They're like long lost friends who bring warm feelings and a smile. Snow cover vanishes. Grass and lawns emerge. Tree buds swell and ripen. Daffodil shoots emerge from recently frozen earth.

But Minnesota's April weather psyche is fragile.

Stormy shadows shade total surrender to warmer, sunnier days. There's something lurking out there in the woods. Big, scary, wintry monsters can still come out of hiding.

Like they did last April 14.

The April 2018 Blizzard was a shocking reminder that 'spring' is a tentative concept in Minnesota. The storm wrap from the Minnesota DNR Climate Working Group is still shocking nearly a year later.

An extreme, late-season winter storm struck Minnesota from April 13-16, 2018, producing everything from thunderstorm wind damage to prolonged blizzard and whiteout conditions.

When all was said and done, an unusually large area of Minnesota, covering about 20 percent of the state, had over a foot of snow. Roughly half of the state had six inches or more, and numerous NWS cooperative observers reported three-day totals in excess of 15 inches. The largest “official” reports included 26.5 inches at Canby in Yellow Medicine County, 21.4 inches at Madison, 19.6 inches at Lake Wilson, and 19.5 inches at Milan. Numerous observers with the CoCoRaHS network similarly recorded amounts between 19 and 21 inches.

The blizzard made travel nearly impossible. It grounded flights at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for over seven hours and caused over 600 accidents, nearly 1200 spin-outs, and approximately 20 jackknifed semi-trailers. The storm also collapsed the 77-foot-high dome of the Vadnais Sports Center and forced three consecutive Minnesota Twins home games to be postponed for the first time since Target Field opened.

In the Twin Cities, the snowfall total of 15.8 inches was the largest to occur so late in the season, broke the storm-total accumulation record for April, and made April of 2018 the snowiest April on record.

April snowfall climatology

Yes, the April 2018 Blizzard was extreme. But April snowfall climatology shows it typically snows in April at least once. The average April snowfall in the Twin Cities? A pesky 2.4-inches over the past 30 years.

And there are many significant April snowfall events in the climatological record.

Heavy snows in April are fairly common in Minnesota's past. The transition from winter to spring can spawn some rather strong storms and given the right conditions, can also tap into leftover cool air from the winter. Looking through historical anecdotes, the greatest chance of having a large snowstorm appears to be in the first half of the month.

As you would expect April snowfall frequency is highest in northern Minnesota.

But a closer look at the frequency of April snowfall in the Twin Cities the past 20 years shows that 10 of the past 20 years have produced less than an inch of snow at MSP Airport.

That's a 50/50 shot at little or no significant snow in April in the Twin Cities area.

Can snow happen again this year?

The simple, obvious answer is yes.

Right now, light snow chances linger through Tuesday for parts of Minnesota. Looking ahead, the medium range forecast maps suggest milder than average air into next week. There are some early signs of cooler and wetter weather in mid-April.

That could mean a chilly spring rain...or snow. My weather spidey senses tell me we're done with big snow this spring. But as we say in the weather biz, never say never. Especially in Minnesota, in April.

Stay tuned.