Frosty Thursday; weekend temps to top 50 in southern Minnesota
Decreasing clouds; still chilly and windy Thursday
![highs Thursday 2 alt](https://img.apmcdn.org/3417e9b03c3b63fb1bf60ce1f94931a2ce9afc7d/uncropped/879b89-20220331-highs-thursday-2-alt-420.png)
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While most of the precipitation has moved on, the cloud cover will linger much of Thursday for much of Minnesota. We’ll see clearing from northwest to southeast. Blustery northwest winds will keep highs below normal.
Fifty degrees return Friday, and we’ll see highs above 50 through the weekend across southern Minnesota.
Cloudy and frosty
There were a few slick spots remaining due to refreezing and lingering patchy drizzle, flurries early Thursday. We’ll climb above freezing through the morning but high temperatures will remain below normal with mainly 30s to low 40s statewide Thursday.
Clouds will linger for many on Thursday but northwestern Minnesota should see sunshine at least half the day. Clouds will clear from northwest to southeast. Southern Minnesota may get to see the sunset.
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![cloud loop 2](https://img.apmcdn.org/e63315cdecc0c7083c063060272b6557c1e33402/uncropped/c5d475-20220331-cloud-loop-2-800.gif)
Temperatures in southern Minnesota should reach 50 degrees Friday afternoon and we’ll see highs above 50 through the weekend across southern Minnesota.
![Highs SAT 2](https://img.apmcdn.org/c1699cc1e9b132a3951ccd84d361cd568d1626bb/uncropped/624715-20220331-highs-sat-2-420.png)
We do have a couple of clipper systems to bookend the weekend. The first moves through late Friday evening bringing a few rain, snow showers.
![friday precpi loop 2](https://img.apmcdn.org/7cb06cbcb17807dc61d67b932067370285e0c053/uncropped/48fdb8-20220331-friday-precpi-loop-2-800.gif)
Another comes through late Sunday bringing another chance of some quick moving rain and snow showers.
![Sun precip loop](https://img.apmcdn.org/24b59c98120298990149f9cb036370a8c20c5460/uncropped/203c35-20220331-sun-precip-loop-800.gif)
We may be dealing with our third consecutive week of a large midweek storm system. This one looks a bit warmer but once again rain, snow will move through Minnesota by Tuesday night into Wednesday.
![storm next week](https://img.apmcdn.org/1faf4657891106575064e9fb707d9cfb55b58d88/uncropped/d30e38-20220331-storm-next-week-660.gif)
Stormy March
It may come as no surprise that it was a wet March. We end the month with 2.95 inches of precipitation, well above the normal 1.68 inches.
![30 day precip](https://img.apmcdn.org/015ef5bd3ce94b94dd3830b241b1594ab780dbc5/uncropped/505a3e-20220331-30-day-precip-900.png)
This is the 12th wettest March out of 149 years. The only recent wetter year was 2007.
![72 hour precip](https://img.apmcdn.org/263cf1b93ac59f63bab3b3c845e5de9842936ff5/uncropped/225277-20220331-72-hour-precip-520.png)
It was our third consecutive cooler-than-normal month. March was 1.3 degrees below normal, while February was nearly 6 degrees below normal and January just over 5 degrees below normal. It is increasingly rare to see cool stretches this long.
We certainly needed that moisture. We are halfway through the water year, which runs October to October, and we’re still behind for many areas thanks to the dry autumn.
![6 month precip](https://img.apmcdn.org/dc23f2525e98aa0815f068091623ddb2f0957714/uncropped/00b2ec-20220331-6-month-precip-600.jpg)