Weekend temps trend upward!

Snow has now melted across much of southern Minnesota and the bulk of the Twin Cities metro area. There’s still some snow where drifts were highest and where plows have left it piled along streets. Patches of snow also remain in the shadows of buildings, but that lingering snow cover will shrink as we go through the weekend.

Northern Minnesota and parts of central Minnesota still have plenty of snow on the ground. Here’s the weekly snow depth map from the Minnesota State Climatology Office:

Most of the northern half of Minnesota has 12 inches or more of snow on the ground and parts of northeastern Minnesota have 24 inches or more of snow cover.

Temperature trends

Saturday highs will reach the 50s from southern Minnesota into west-central Wisconsin, with 40s in northern Minnesota. A few spots in far southwestern Minnesota could touch 60. Metro area highs are forecast to reach the lower 50s, but a few spots could creep a bit higher than that.

Sunday highs will be in the 60s in southwestern and south-central Minnesota, with 50s across much of central and northwestern Minnesota and 40s to the northeast:

Some spots in the metro area could touch 60. Our average Twin Cities high is 44 degrees on March 20.

Winds will increase Sunday afternoon and evening, as a low pressure system moves closer. Here are forecast wind gusts for 4 p.m. CDT Sunday:

Forecast gusts are in knots, with 15 knots equal to 17.3 mph.

Back to temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 50s on Monday, followed by mid 40s Tuesday and lower 40s Wednesday. Metro area highs are expected to rebound to the upper 40s Thursday and into the lower 50s on Friday.

Rain and snow chances

The Twin Cities will have a chance of rain showers Monday, then periods of rain are likely Monday night and Tuesday. The rain could transition over to a rain/snow mix Tuesday night into Wednesday. Parts of northern Minnesota could see snow or a wintry mix as early as Monday…check forecast updates.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Spring!

Meteorological spring began on March 1, now it’s time to talk about astronomical spring, which begins on Sunday.

The vernal equinox occurs at 10:33 a.m. this Sunday, March 20. According to earthsky.org:

The March equinox – also called the vernal equinox – marks the beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere

Day and night are not exactly the same length on the date of the equinox because we use the top of the rising or setting sun to define sunrise and sunset, rather than the center of the sun. There’s also some refraction or bending of the sun’s rays as they travel through the atmosphere, which adds to our minutes of daylight. More details on those two factors can be found here.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.