Winter weather returns to Minnesota, warmer temperatures expected next week

NINA MOINI: So you heard it from Prince himself.

[PRINCE, "SOMETIMES IT SNOWS IN APRIL"] Sometimes it snows in April

NINA MOINI: That it does. Winter weather, we've all seen it. It's dragging into April. Several inches of snow have fallen in the Twin Cities, with parts of Central and Northern Minnesota getting hit hardest. Joining us now with the latest look at our forecast and snow totals is MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner. Thanks for being here, as always, Paul.

PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, my pleasure, Nina. Yeah, Prince was a wise man. I think he saw enough of Minnesota winters and springs to know that what we're getting today, it's never too late for a little snow, even as we move into April.

NINA MOINI: It's not. It's really dreary, though, today. It's not the most fun. But it is normal. Give us the latest on this latest snowstorm.

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, technically, I'm calling this a slop storm because that's pretty much what it is across Minnesota. Nina, the weather map is a mess right now. There is snow falling through the northern half of Minnesota, all the way back into Southwest Minnesota, pretty heavy snow right now. And then south of that, into the Twin Cities, Southeast Minnesota, it is rain. In fact, we've got another batch of rain moving into the Twin Cities right now. So it'll kind of wash away some of that slop and see some big puddles out there today, I think.

But up north, it continues to be snow. Those winter storm warnings continue, basically, for about the northwest half of the state. And that's after that little slush, snow burst we had last night, 2 in the Twin Cities, if we look at snowfall totals, 1 to 3 in the Twin Cities, 2.1 at the airport. We had slushy ruts out there. I was driving around last night. It was not pretty. And the heavier snow is falling to our north, where they're going to still get another 5 to 10 inches from Detroit Lakes, up through Bemidji, the Iron Range, the North Shore, all the way up to Ely and International Falls.

So those winter storm warnings continue through tonight, periods of snow up to the north and west, northern half of Minnesota, another 4 to 8 inches there. For us, it's just rain, Nina, in the south. We might even hear a clap of thunder today, south of the Twin Cities. But we're above freezing. So that's the good news for the roads out there. They're mainly just wet, as we head through today. And interesting to note that another inch of liquid at least-- so I think our drought is pretty much history here across much of--

NINA MOINI: I was going to ask.

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, Central and Southern Minnesota. So this is really good news for that. And looking at the maps, which I do, about 10 days out, right now, no guarantees, but I don't see any more big rain or snow events like this one. So we might, might be done with the snow, especially in Southern Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: Well, what about the rest of the state for drought?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, I think-- so here are a couple of things. First of all, we're going to get that update in the morning. But the drought monitor cutoff is Tuesday morning, Nina. So this precip is going to miss this week's update. And the drought monitor is kind of a lagging indicator. I think we're pretty much done with drought in the Twin Cities, much of Southern Minnesota. There's a couple pockets of severe drought that probably will still remain in moderate drought. But overall, this train and parade of spring storms we've had has pretty much eliminated the drought across most of Minnesota. I think we'll find that out in next week's drought monitor update.

NINA MOINI: I hope it's good news. So you said not a lot of precipitation in the immediate future. What are some of the signs of spring you're seeing?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, our weather will start improving by baby steps this week. We'll trend sunnier Thursday, as we head right into the weekend, mainly 40s and 50s, as we head into the weekend, Nina. Next week starts a little cool. But boy, do we have a change late next week. By Thursday, Friday, and into that weekend of April 12 and 13, most of the models are saying 60s first for the Twin Cities, Southern Minnesota, Thursday and Friday, and then 70s, it looks like, that weekend of April 12 and 13, in fact, a couple of models cranking out 80 south of the Twin Cities. We're due for a big push of warm weather like that. And the weather maps are pretty confident that we'll see that late next week, so hang in there another week.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, that sounds kind of nice. So I understand, too, you have an update for us on weather balloon launches and why they are important. What's going on there?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, so NOAA has canceled some of these balloon launches in a really critical area west of Minnesota, Rapid City, Omaha, Nebraska, and then they've dropped one a day in several other sites in Kansas and Colorado and Wyoming. So that leaves a big hole for these weather balloons, which go up over 50,000 feet, give us data right through the atmosphere of temperature and pressure and winds.

That is really critical in days like today, Nina, where we're trying to play with this rain-snow line and have the forecast models get it right. Just a degree or two of error can be the difference between a rain and a heavy snow burst, also, with severe weather, the same thing with those stability and outlooks that NOAA puts out. So we're watching that. We're wondering how good the models are. There's no way to tell for sure. It's kind of a weird situation to be in as a meteorologist after 40 years of advances in weather forecasting to now pull some of that critical data out of the maps.

NINA MOINI: That's too bad, Paul. Want to let us know, or I want to make sure to check in on what you're doing for Climate Cast this week before I let you go.

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, these springs we've had, Nina, this weather whiplash, from snow, to 70 degrees, back to snow, it seems like we're having a trend of more of this in the spring. So we'll talk to Pete Boulay from the Minnesota State Climate Office and see if we're just imagining things. Or is there data to support this crazy spring weather we're having?

NINA MOINI: All right, Paul, thanks so much.

PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.

NINA MOINI: That's MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.