Cloudy And Chilly Friday - 40s Likely Next Week

Forecast loop between 7 PM Thursday and 7 AM Friday.

The good news with the system impacting us on Thursday is that it'll be quickly moving out as we head through Thursday Night, with the only real chances of snow Friday morning up in far northeastern portions of the state.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day! A mainly cloudy and chilly Friday is ahead, with temperatures throughout the day in the mid to upper teens. However, with strong northwest winds at 15-20 mph and gusts to 30 mph, it'll feel more like 0F most of the day. I can't rule out a spare snow shower or flurry in the afternoon hours, but the chances are low.

The best chances of continuing snow at times during the day Friday will be up in north-central/northeastern Minnesota - otherwise, only a few spare snow showers or flurries are expected across the rest of the state with cloudy skies. Highs will mainly be in the teens across the state Friday, with a few 20s possible in the Arrowhead.

Here's expected snowfall between 7 AM Friday and 7 AM Saturday. The heaviest additional snow in Minnesota during this timeframe will be in the Arrowhead, where another inch or two will be possible. Snow also continues along the south shore of Lake Superior.

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Looking at next week - it really starts to look like Spring. This is probably a good thing, as the Equinox is next Monday at 4:24 PM! Highs for the metro look to be in the 40s for most of next week, potentially reaching the mid-40s for the warmest day on Thursday before cooling a few degrees into the weekend. However, note those overnight lows: several nights will remain above freezing, which will accelerate the Spring Melt a little bit across the region.

However, as we head toward the second half of the week we will have to watch some precipitation chances across the region. With the expected temperatures, rain can be expected for most of it across at least southern Minnesota. Something to keep an eye on!

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A Numbing St. Patrick's Day in Minnesota
By Paul Douglas

Today's outlook calls for showers of green beer and a cold wind more typical of mid-January than mid-March. It will probably be the coldest St. Patty's Day since 1993. It won't snow (much) but flurries spill into Saturday before the atmosphere overhead simmers down a bit. The sun pops out of a stale, white-bread sky by Sunday, and next week looks like March with highs near 40F. If the sun comes out midweek parts of far southern Minnesota could bask near 50.

South winds will be cooled from below by 1-3 feet of snow on the ground, acting as a "brake" on daytime highs until we melt more snow, which we hope will occur in slow-motion. Any rain will accelerate snowmelt and models hint at a rain/snow mix next Wednesday night into Thursday.

Rain. 40s. Calls from accountants? Spring is coming, in no particular hurry.

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SATURDAY: Coating of flurries possible. Wake up 12. High 24. Chance of precipitation 50%. Wind NW 15-25 mph.

SUNDAY: Partly sunny, feels better. Wake up 14. High 31. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind W 10-20 mph.

MONDAY: Mix of clouds and sunshine. Wake up 19. High 40. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 10-20 mph.

TUESDAY: Blue sky, trending milder. Wake up 28. High 39. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 5-10 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Rain/snow mix possible late. Wake up 33. High 41. Chance of precipitation 70%. Wind SE 15-25 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
March 17th

*Length Of Day: 11 hours, 59 minutes, and 22 seconds
*Daylight GAINED Since Yesterday: 3 minutes and 9 seconds

*When do we see 12 Hours of Daylight?: March 18th (12 hours, 2 minutes, 31 seconds)
*When Is The Sunrise At/Before 7 AM? March 29th (6:59 AM)
*When Is The Sunset At/After 8 PM? April 17th (8:00 PM)

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2012: The Twin Cities hits 80 degrees, a new record for St. Patrick's Day and the warmest temperature during the warmest March on record. Amazingly, the high also reached 79 on March 16, 18, and 19 this year.

1965: The Great St. Patrick's Day Blizzard hits northern Minnesota. Two feet of snow dumped at Duluth. 19 inches at Mora.

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The storm impacting the central part of the nation Thursday will continue to move east into Friday, with snow and some icing from the Great Lakes to New England, but showers and storms from the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio River Valley to the Gulf Coast. The West Coast continues to receive a nice break from the precipitation onslaught they've had recently.

From Thursday through Saturday, at least a foot of snow could pile up across the south shore of Lake Superior in the U.P. of Michigan and into northern Wisconsin. Up to 3" of rain could fall in parts of the lower Mississippi Valley.

Spring Outlook: California drought cut by half with more relief to come

More from NOAA: "There is a risk for flooding in most of the eastern half of the continental United States, including most of the Mississippi River Basin. Forecasters with the National Water Center, in concert with NWS River Forecast Centers, predict moderate to major flooding along the Mississippi River from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to St. Louis, Missouri. An above normal to record snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, combined with elevated soil moisture, increases the threat of spring flooding due to snowmelt, especially at high elevations. "Approximately 44% of the U.S. is at risk for flooding this spring," said Ed Clark, director of NOAA's National Water Center. "California's historic snowpack, coupled with spring rain, is heightening the potential for spring floods.""

'Extrapolations' is the climate change TV show we desperately need

More from the Los Angeles Times: "The year is 2047. Rabbi Marshall Zucker, portrayed by "Hamilton" star Daveed Diggs, is scrambling to secure funds to keep his congregation safe as rising ocean waters flood the pews of their Miami synagogue. Then an intense hurricane hits, a sea wall breaks and Diggs must rush to save the Torah scroll, putting his own life at risk as Miami is ravaged by the storm... That's from an early episode of "Extrapolations" — a haunting, rage-inducing, totally necessary new series about the climate dangers on the horizon. It premieres Friday on Apple TV+ and offers a terrifying glimpse at what the world might look like between 2037 and 2070. That includes children struggling with lethal "summer heart," wildfire smoke semi-permanently blotting out the sun and rich people uploading their brains to the cloud, so they can return to Earth if things ever get better."

Arctic ice has seen an 'irreversible' thinning since 2007, study says

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- D.J. Kayser