Marchlike warmth; October was our snowiest month so far

Areas of dense fog linger in portions of northern and southwestern Minnesota Sunday morning, where a dense fog advisory is set to expire at noon:

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. 

Updated forecast information will be posted by the National Weather Service offices in the Twin Cities, Duluth, La Crosse, Wis., Sioux Falls, S.D. and Grand Forks, N.D.

Areas of fog and dense fog could redevlop Sunday night and linger into Monday morning.

Temperature trends

The average Feb. 4 Twin Cities high temperature is 25 degrees. Metro area highs are expected to reach the mid 40s Sunday afternoon.

Much of Minnesota will have Sunday highs in the 40s, but northwestern Minnesota could see highs in the 30s.

Monday highs will be mainly in the 40s, with some 30s in northwestern Minnesota:

Tuesday highs reach the 50s in roughly the southern half of Minnesota, with 40s to the north:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 50s on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, followed by a high near 40 on Friday. Metro area high temp could be in the 30s next weekend, based on model trends.

No storms in sight

Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have a rain-free Sunday and Monday. We aren’t expecting any snow either!

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 6 a.m. Monday to 10 p.m. Sunday:

Periods of rain are expected to begin on Thursday and linger into Thursday night, possibly followed by a mix of rain showers and snow showers on Friday. Check forecast updates.

Snowiest month was October

The Twin Cities October snow total (measured at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport) was 2.7 inches. That was followed by just one-half inch of snow in November, 2.1 inches in December and 2 inches of snow in January.

This is the only snow season in Twin Cities weather records with more snow in October than in any of the following three months.

Twin Cities monthly snowfall records go back to 1884 and can be found here.

Heavy rain and strong winds hitting California

A strong low pressure system will bring strong winds and waves of heavy rain to California today into Monday and Tuesday. there will be areas of heavy snow in the mountains.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern from Sunday morning through Monday night:

Here are forecast rain totals from the storm:

Here are the forecast peak winds:

Here was the storm preview that was posted on Friday:

A variety of storm warnings, flood watches and high wind warnings have been posted for southern California.

Northern California also has flood watches:

Here are high wind warnings in northern California:

Additional storm info can be found on the Los Angeles NWS and San Francisco NWS sites.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.