Cool bias now, 70 ahead? Target Field ready for opener

April is the cruelest month. - T. S. Eliot

April is a promise that May is bound to keep. - Hal Borland

Waiting for spring

A leaky gray sky. Whistling wind gusts through tiny cracks by the window. A sluggish thermometer refuses to budge.

These are the days we wait for spring in Minnesota. We got off easy this winter. But it was still winter. Waiting for spring this year has been even tougher in some ways. A balmy March gave us false hope for an early permanent spring. Not this year.

Yes, we earn our springs and summers in Minnesota.

• -3.2 degrees temps vs. average so far this April at MSP Airport

• 53 degrees average high temperature now at MSP

• -5 to -10 degrees vs. average this week

• 70 degrees possible again by around April 16th?

Wintry up north, milder and drier southwest

If you ever wonder why Minnesota's landscape looks the way it does check out these maps. Another storm track with northeast Minnesota on the colder, wetter and snowier side of two Clippers racing southeast. Cool wet pine tree weather in the northeast half of Minnesota. Hardwood showers in the metro. Prairie warmth and dryness in the southwest.

A typical storm track with typical results. Minnesota's 3 distinct biomes reflect the weather patterns we live under.

Next Clipper 

Clipper #1 exits northeast Minnesota late tonight. Clipper #2 arrives Wednesday night into Thursday. More wet snow with 2" to 4" totals common up north, more rain showers with a few flakes mixed in south. Here's a look at total (liquid) precipitation output from NOAA's NAM 4 km model.

Cool bias this week

Temperatures continue to run abut 5 to 10 degrees cooler than average this week. Another rainy mix Thursday. Rain showers likely again Sunday.

Twins opener Monday

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Twins season opener on TV last night. Next Monday's forecast is still in flux for the home opener at Target Field, but temps in a few degrees either side of 50 seem like a good early projection.

I asked Twins Head Groundskeeper Larry Divito today how this winter and spring are treating the turf at Target Field as they prepare for Monday.

Paul; great to hear from you. Here is an update.

The next few days notwithstanding, this has been a very smooth early spring for us here at the ballpark. Winter was kind to us and the turf is up and running, thanks to the fine weather and our heating system. With the field heated, the most important thing we need in March through mid-April is good sunlight for photosynthesis. This weekend we will be dressing up the field with mowing patterns and painting logos. We hope for sunshine on Monday the 11th.

Larry DiVito

Head Groundskeeper

Minnesota Twins Baseball Club

Target Field | 1 Twins Way | Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403

Thanks Larry. I will kick the Doppler a few times to see if we can move Sunday's showers out in time for some sun Monday afternoon at Target Field. But stay tuned on that one.

Here's the admittedly still too early to be totally credible forecast for next Monday via NOAA's GFS model.

Play Ball!

Longer range: Warmer days in sight

The longer range outlook suggests the significant warming trend, also known as spring, will arrive late next week. NOAA's experimental week 3 temperature outlook paints a sea of red across most of the USA starting late next week.

I still think the idea of  a string of days in the 60s and even 70s looks plausible.

The weekend of April 16-17 looks warm, wet and potentially thundery. Low pressure in the Dakotas and a wide open Gulf of Mexico. Downpours, thunder and even severe weather could be in the weather cards.

Spring is just around the corner. Or the next one.