A rather quiet weather week

Sunday brought bright sunshine, low relative humidity and comfortable temperatures.  High temperatures were in the upper 50s and 60s.

Yesterday's  visible satellite image showed only a few wispy clouds over central Minnesota late in the afternoon.

Clear skies and light winds overnight allowed the mercury to dip to 24 degrees this morning at International Falls, Minn.

There will be a couple of chances for showers this week, mainly over northern and central Minnesota.

Precipitation amounts are expected to be less than a tenth of an inch, except for up to a quarter-inch in far northwest Minnesota from late tonight through Tuesday morning.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale Forecast System paints a swath of showers in northern Minnesota early on Tuesday morning. Accumulation of precipitation in that region could be around two-tenths of an inch.  Note the heavy rain possible in parts of Oklahoma today and tonight.

Afternoon temperatures will be rather mild for much of the week. Today's highs will be mainly in the 60s, excluding the region along the shores of Lake Superior.

Even northeast Minnesota will enjoy rather comfortable midafternoon high temperatures as we head through the final days of April.

Showers last Friday were very much welcome in parts of central Minnesota. A half-inch or more of rain was measured in some locations, including  Glenwood, Alexandria and Willmar. The rain gauge at the St. Cloud Regional Airport captured just shy of a half-inch (0.48) on Friday.

So far in 2015, Sioux Falls, S.D., has tallied 2.55 inches of precipitation, which is less than 50 percent of the normal (5.51 inches) through April 26.

There has been enough of a green-up to the landscape that the fire weather danger is being held in check for now. But the fire danger still remains a concern for parts of northwest Minnesota. Tonight's showers will be welcome in Thief River Falls, Minn., and Crookston, Minn.