Rain in many areas today and Christmas Day, wintry mix or snow Monday in western Minn.

Our Sunday weather is unusually warm, to say the least.

Record highs for Dec. 24 were broken before sunrise today in the Twin Cities, St. Cloud and Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The previous Twin Cities record high for today was 46 degrees. St. Cloud’s previous Dec. 24 record high was 44 degrees and Eau Claire’s previous record high was 45. Several additional locations in Minnesota and western Wisconsin will break temperature records today.

For reference, the average Twin Cities high temp is just 26 degrees on Dec. 24.

Temperature trends

Sunday high temperatures will reach the 50s in much of the southern half of Minnesota, plus portions of western Wisconsin. Mainly 40s are expected in northern Minnesota, with a few 30s in far northwestern Minnesota.

Christmas Day highs will range from upper 20s in far northwestern Minnesota to lower 50s in the southeast:

Twin Cities metro area highs will be around 50 degrees on Monday, followed by mid 40s Tuesday then upper 30s Wednesday and lower 30s Thursday and Friday.

Rain and snow outlook

Rain covers much of Minnesota early Sunday afternoon, with a wintry mix in parts of northwestern Minnesota. The Twin Cities metro area and southeastern Minnesota plus western and Wisconsin were rain-free early Sunday afternoon, but rain will also spread into those areas later this afternoon.

Periods of rain are likely in much of Minnesota plus western Wisconsin Sunday night into Monday, with a wintry mix or snow in portions of western Minnesota and far northern Minnesota.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 5 p.m. Sunday through 5 p.m. Monday:

NOAA’s Finite Volume Cubed Sphere (FV3) model shows a somewhat similar precipitation pattern for that time period:

Patchy slick roads are possible in northwestern Minnesota today and anywhere in western Minnesota and far northern Minnesota on Christmas Day:

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. 

Here’s the NWS snow forecast for Minnesota:

Temperatures in the lowest few thousand feet of the atmosphere will be the key to whether more locations in Minnesota see some snow Sunday night through Monday night. Check forecast updates.

Several forecast models show between 1 and 2 inches of precipitation for much of Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin from today through Monday night. Precipitation includes rainfall plus the water content of any snowfall.

Updated forecast info will be posted by the NWS offices in the Twin Cities, Duluth, La Crosse, Sioux Falls and Grand Forks.

Travelers to South Dakota should be aware of blizzard warnings and winter storm watches for Monday and Tuesday:

Here are potential snow amounts in South Dakota:

There are also blizzard warnings and winter storm watches posted for parts of Nebraska from Monday into Tuesday night. Here are forecast snow amounts in Nebraska:

You can get a point forecast for any location in the United States by clicking on the location here.

Weather nugget

Through Dec. 23, the average Twin Cities temperature was running 10 degrees warmer than normal this month. The average monthly temperature is the average of all the daily high temperatures and low temperatures.