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Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News
Ron Trenda

Close to a record high today, showers Sunday

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Too many times, we have a beautiful Friday followed by clouds and rain on Saturday. That is frustrating to people who cannot start their weekend early.

That won't happen this time! We'll have sunshine and just patchy high clouds for much of our Saturday. Temperatures will soar into the 60s over much of Minnesota, with highs in the 50s over the far north:

rt312h5

We could come very close to our record high for today in the Twin Cities, which is 69 degrees.

A change in our weather is coming on Sunday, as a low pressure system brings us some showers at times:

rt312allfronts

Cooler highs in the 50s are expected on Sunday, but that is still much warmer than normal.

Flakes on Wednesday?

The extended forecast from the GFS model shows highs in the 40s Wednesday and Thursday, with showers or a rain/snow mix possible on Wednesday:

rt312gr2
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Global Forecast System data, via Weatherspark

The European forecast model has highs in the 30s Wednesday and Thursday, with flakes or a mix possible both days.

We'll be watching future runs of the models. It is safe to say that temperatures take a big dip around midweek.

Lake Superior ice almost gone

We recently completed our sixth warmest meteorological winter (December through February) in Minnesota history, according to the Minnesota State Climatology Office. Details can be found at Winter 2015-2016 .

Because of our warm autumn and winter, lake ice was late to form on Lake Superior.

According to the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, most of the ice that did form is now gone. Only 2.3% of the surface of Lake Superior is currently covered with ice: 

rt312supice1

Our super El Nino winter was a big factor in the lack of ice cover.

Last year at this time, Lake Superior was 75.5% ice covered:

rt312supice2

Quite a difference in one year!

Spring ahead

A reminder to turn your clocks ahead one hour before you go to bed tonight.  Daylight saving time starts at 2 am Sunday.

I hope that you enjoy your weekend!

Programming note:  You can check out my live weather reports on Minnesota Public Radio at 735 am weekend mornings.