April Weather Summary So Far
Here's the Twin Cities weather summary for April so far. Note that we're running nearly -5.5F below average so far this month, which is tied for the 32th coldest start to any April on record. We're about 0.30" of an inch above average in terms of precipitation, but nearly -1.0" below average in terms of snowfall.

Active Week of Weather
Here's the weather outlook from AM Tuesday to AM Monday. Thankfully, we'll have a break in the active weather through the first half of the day Tuesday. However, another storm system arrives PM Tuesday into Wednesday with widespread soaking rains and windy weather. The weather will be quiet again on Thursday before another large storm arrives Friday into the weekend with more rain and wind.

Precipitation Outlook
According to NOAA's WPC, the precipitation outlook through the weekend ahead looks pretty impressive with some 1" to 2" liquid tallies possible across the northern half of the state. Interestingly, some of the rain late week and into the weekend could be accompanied by thunder.

2022 Official Ice Out Dates
Hey - Look at that! More and more lakes are going ice out in the southern part of the state. However, thanks to a chillier than average month of April so far, several lakes are going out a little later than average. Cedar Lake, Lake Nokomis and Medicine Lake in the metro are officially out. According to the MN DNR, Lake Minnetonka went ice out on April 15th, 2 days later than normal (April 13th). Look for more ice outs over the coming days and weeks. It won't be long now before the land of 10,000 unfrozen lakes returns!

Average Ice Out Dates
We're still several weeks away from ice out across parts of the state, but according to the MN DNR, here's a look at the average ice out dates for lakes across the state. Note that some lakes across the southern part of the state typically see ice out around the end of March. Lake Minnetonka typically doesn't see ice out until mid April. A few lakes in far northern & northeastern MN don't see ice out until late April or early May.

Status of Spring
"April 18, 2022 - Spring leaf out continues to progress across the country. Our spring leaf anomaly compares the arrival of spring leaf out this year to a long-term average of 1991-2020. In the East, spring leaf out is patchy this year, arriving days to weeks late across much of the Southeast and Midwest, and arriving days to weeks early across the southern part of the Midwest, the Southern Appalachians, the mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast. Parts of Maine are over a week early. In western states, spring leaf out is also patchy, arriving a week late in some locations and over a month early in others. Parts of Montana and South Dakota are 2-3 weeks early. Spring bloom is also spreading north, arriving days to a week late in Texas and Florida and days to several weeks early in California. Spring bloom is over a week early in parts of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. The mid-Atlantic is patchy, several days early in some locations and several days late in others."