Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Chance of rain and snow showers Sunday; warmup begins Wednesday

60s next weekend

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Saturday weather in St. Paul
Ron Trenda/MPR News

Our March snowmelt continues.

We had plenty of new snow last Sunday and Sunday night and a few additional inches of snow on Tuesday. Recent sunshine plus warm soil temps and a good dose of rain on Monday have all contributed to our shrinking snow cover.

It’s always interesting to see the snow disappear from south-facing lawns this time of year while snow lingers in shady areas and on north-facing slopes.

Sunday precipitation outlook

A developing low pressure system over the Rockies will spread moisture over portions of Minnesota and Wisconsin Sunday and Sunday night.

Far southern Minnesota has the best chance of snow showers or a rain/snow mix Sunday morning, followed by some periods of rain showers Sunday afternoon. A rain/snow mix could follow Sunday evening.

A few scattered snow showers and rain showers will be possible from west-central Minnesota into east-central Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 7 a.m. Sunday to 2 a.m. Monday:

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Simulated radar from 7 a.m. Sunday to 2 a.m. Monday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

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

Some forecast models show a chance of rain showers and snow showers in southern Minnesota on Monday.

The average Twin Cities high temperature is 49 degrees on March 30. The Saturday high temp at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 46 degrees.

Sunday highs will be in the 30s in much of western and far northern Minnesota, with mainly 40s in the remainder of Minnesota plus west-central and northwestern Wisconsin:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Monday highs will be mainly in the 40s, with upper 30s in parts of northeastern Minnesota:

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Monday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be in the upper 40s on Tuesday, then around 50 degrees Wednesday followed by lower 50s Thursday and upper 50s on Friday. Some forecast models show Twin Cities metro area highs in the 60s next weekend.

Above-normal temps could then linger into the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows above-normal temps in Minnesota and Wisconsin from April 7 through April 13:

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Temperature outlook April 7 through April 13
NWS Climate Prediction Center

Weather nugget

Despite some recent cool temps, the average Twin Cities temperature is 4.4 degrees warmer than normal this March.

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.