A warm and bright Sunday; Kansas City has seen more snow than the Twin Cities

Snow lovers will have to be patient.

We'll have warm temperatures and plenty of sunshine across most of Minnesota this Sunday.

Areas that still have snow cover will see some of it melt today and over the next few days.

 Temperature trends

Many locations in Minnesota will see highs in the upper 30s this Sunday afternoon.

It'll be a few degrees cooler than that in northwestern Minnesota, with some low to mid 30s. Lower 40s are possible in some locations from west-central Minnesota through east-central Minnesota.

I wouldn't be surprised if some place with little or no snow on the ground reaches the middle 40s.

Many spots in the Twin Cities metro area are expected to reach the lower 40s this afternoon. That's pretty warm, since our average high temp is 27 degrees in the Twin Cities this time of year.

On Monday, northern Minnesota will see highs in the 20s, with 30s to the south:

Some spots in the metro area will see mid 30s.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach around 40 degrees on Tuesday, followed by upper 30s Wednesday and low to mid 30s on Thursday and Friday.

Snow chances

There aren't any big snowstorms in sight for the coming week. Parts of Minnesota and western Wisconsin could see a mix or rain showers and snow showers Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern Wednesday through Wednesday night:

The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the precipitation rate (mm per hour), not to the total amount of rain or snow.

As always, updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you will also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Snowy Kansas City?

The Sioux Falls, South Dakota office of the National Weather Service posted an interesting graphic this morning:

The map and color chart refer to the total snowfall so far this snow season.

You can see that central Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro area have received less than one foot of snow, while far northern Minnesota and far southern Minnesota have seen more than one foot of snow.

The chart on the right side of the graphic indicate that our Twin Cities season snowfall total of 7.3 inches is 8.7 inches below normal to this point in our snow season.

Kansas City, Missouri has received 8.3 inches of snow this season, or one inch more snow than the Twin Cities. That's more than double their normal season snowfall total through mid-December.

Here's another weather nugget: Raleigh, North Carolina saw over 8 inches of snow last weekend. They average only tw0-tenths of an inch of snow to this point in astronomical autumn in Raleigh.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.