Hope you enjoyed the warmest day of the year on Wednesday, because the Easter weekend will feel downright winterlike. In some places, it will look like winter, too.

A winter storm watch is in effect for a number of counties across north central Minnesota, where there is a "high probability" that 3 or more inches of snow will pile up Friday night into Saturday. The heaviest snow is likely to fall in places such as the Fargo-Moorhead area, Alexandria, Brainerd, Crookston, Hinckley, Grand Rapids and Duluth, and into the northern Wisconsin towns of Hayward, Ladysmith and Ashland, the National Weather Service said Thursday.

Some places in the watch area could receive as much 6 inches of snow. Even the Twin Cities is likely to get slapped with a rain-snow mix overnight Friday as winter keeps its icy grip on the state, the Weather Service said.

As of Wednesday, the metro area had received 49.3 inches of snow for the season, which is about 2 inches below historical averages, the Weather Service said.

Behind the storm, the weekend will serve up heavy-jacket weather for Easter egg hunts as temperatures statewide struggle to get above the freezing mark on Saturday. On Sunday, the mercury will barely make it above that mark in the southern part of the state. Gusty winds capable of goose bump-inducing windchills will accompany the unseasonably cold air.

By Sunday morning, temperatures will fall into the low teens across the southern third of the state and into the single digits above zero north of the Twin Cities. The metro area will see a low of about 14 degrees before warming to a high of 35 degrees under sunny skies.

On Wednesday, thermometers registered a high of 52 degrees, which made it the warmest day of 2018 in the Twin Cities. It was the warmest day since it was 57 degrees on Dec. 4, 2017, weather service records show.

Winter-weary Minnesotans longing for gardening weather will have to wait at least a couple more weeks for some heat, meaning next Thursday's Twins home opener at Target Field will be on the chilly side. Highs for the next week will be stuck in the 30s, while lows will be in the 20s.

"There are no signs of any significant warmups through the first two weeks of April," the Weather Service said.

Still, the state's snowpack continues to slowly diminish. On Thursday night, the National Weather Service also issued a flood warning for the Cottonwood River at New Ulm, in Brown County. "Additional precipitation Friday into Saturday may cause river levels to rise even higher than predicted," it said.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768