Above-normal temps into early next week; rain Tuesday, then rain-snow mix
Plenty of snow cover across most of Minnesota
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Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 27 degrees this time of year. If you like your February highs in the 20s, you’ll have to wait a few days.
Temperature trends
The Twin Cities and much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have Saturday afternoon highs in the lower 40s. Some spots could reach the mid 40s. There will be some upper 30s near the Red River Valley in northwestern Minnesota.
Sunday highs will be in the upper 30s to around 40 degrees:
Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be in the lower 40s Monday and Tuesday, followed by upper 30s Wednesday. We’ll see much cooler highs to end the week, with lower 20s on Thursday followed by a high around 20 degrees on Friday.
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Snow depths
There’s plenty of snow cover across most of Minnesota right now. Here’s the latest snow depth map from the Minnesota State Climatology Office:
The current official Twin Cities snow depth, measured at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, is 8 inches. Some spots in the far north metro have snow depths of 12 inches or more.
The purple-shaded areas from northern Pine County through northeastern Minnesota have snow depths of 18 inches or more. The light-purple shaded areas in northeastern Minnesota have 24 to 30 inches of snow cover. Parts of far southeastern Minnesota have 4 inches or less of snow on the ground.
Warm temps this weekend will shrink our snow cover a bit.
Rain-snow chances
I’ll start by mentioning that areas of fog are expected in Minnesota and western Wisconsin late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
Parts of far northern Minnesota could also see a passing sprinkle or flurry late Saturday night and early Sunday.
A low-pressure system will spread rain into Minnesota and western Wisconsin Tuesday afternoon, with periods of rain lingering through Tuesday night. The rain will change to a rain- snow mix on Wednesday.
Parts of western Minnesota may see a changeover to mainly snow by late Tuesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the surface pressure pattern and the precipitation pattern from 6 a.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Tuesday:
It looks like the rain will arrive by early Tuesday afternoon in the Twin Cities. The metro area may see a rain-snow mix on Wednesday.
You can find updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and on the MPR News live weather blog.
Weather nugget
Official Twin Cities high temps (measured at MSP airport) have shown quite a range this month. The warmest high temp at MSP airport this February was 45 degrees, on Wednesday Feb 8. The coldest high temp at MSP airport this month was 4 degrees, on Feb. 3.
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. Saturday and Sunday.