Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Chance of rain/snow showers Monday; warmest temps later in the week

Second week of April looks warmer than normal

rt0331stp4
Late Sunday afternoon, in St. Paul
Ron Trenda/MPR News

The Twin Cities metro area saw some breaks in the cloud cover late Sunday afternoon, and the temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport topped out at 48 degrees. That was just one degree shy of the average March 31 Twin Cities high temp.

Most of Minnesota saw Sunday highs in the 40s, with some upper 30s in parts of far northern Minnesota.

Monday highs will reach the 40s in most areas, with 30s in northeastern Minnesota:

rt0401h11
Monday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Tuesday highs will also reach the 40s in most areas:

rt0402h11
Tuesday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be around 50 degrees on Wednesday, followed by lower 50s Thursday and mid 50s on Friday. Some forecast models show Twin Cities metro area highs in the 60s next weekend.

Above-normal temps could then linger through the second week of April, according to the NWS Climate Prediction Center’s temperature outlook for April 8 through April 14:

rt0331ext
Temperature outlook April 8 through April 14
NWS Climate Prediction Center

Rain and snow chances Monday

Parts of far southern Minnesota could see a rain shower Sunday evening.

A low pressure system will spin moisture up into Iowa, the southern third of Minnesota and the southern half of Wisconsin on Monday. Much of Iowa will see some rain on Monday, along with some embedded thunderstorms. Roughly the southern third of Minnesota plus southern Wisconsin will have the chance of a rain/snow mix Monday morning, then some rain showers at times Monday afternoon.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Finite Volume Cubed Sphere (FV3) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 5 a.m. Monday to 10 p.m. Monday:

rt0331rad4
FV3 simulated radar from 5 a.m. Monday to 10 p.m. Monday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

NOAA’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the precipitation coming in a bit slower and shifted slightly southward:

rt0331rad5
NAM simulated radar from 5 a.m. Monday to 10 p.m. Monday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

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 CitiesLa Crosse, Wis.,  and Sioux Falls, S.D..

Weather nugget

The warmest temperature this March at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 74 degrees, on March 3. The coldest temp recorded there this March was 18 degrees, on four days; March 20, March 23, March 27 and March 28.

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.