Slightly Warmer Saturday With Peeks Of Late Day Sun

As we look back at Thursday's snowfall, the heaviest band across southern and central Minnesota set up just to the northwest of the metro, leaving snowfall amounts of up to 1.5" reported around the metro but 5" amounts as close as Elk River and St. Cloud. The heaviest snow was up north, with 7.3" near Payne, 7" in Wright, and some 6"+ amounts around Lake Mille Lacs and north of St. Cloud.

Officially at MSP 0.3" of snow fell on Thursday, but we saw 5" in St. Cloud and 4.9" in Duluth.

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We're now up to 80.6" of snow for the snowy season here in the metro, still placing us in 8th place for the snowiest winter on record - 0.9" away from a tie for 7th and 4.6" away from pulling into 5th place. Snowiest winter rankings elsewhere across the state:

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As we slide our way into Saturday, we can't rule out a few snowflakes around in the early morning hours that shouldn't accumulate much. Otherwise, mainly cloudy skies in the morning will start to clear out late in the day. Morning temperatures in the low teens will climb to the mid-20s for highs.

Looking statewide, the best chance of a few snowflakes in the morning hours will be in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, before that moves out and leaves us with slowly decreasing clouds from the northwest to southeast during the afternoon hours. Highs will be in the teens in western Minnesota with 20s elsewhere.

After a gloomy Saturday, brilliant sunshine returns as we head into Sunday with highs climbing up to around freezing. Monday will bring in more clouds than sun once again - however, highs are expected to reach 40F in the metro.

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And highs in the 40s look to continue through next weekend here in the metro, with several days reaching the mid-40s and some lows not dropping below freezing. This means we'll see more melting snow - slowly tacking all that snow depth across the region! This stretch of 40-degree weather arrives right in time - a reminder that the Spring Equinox is next Monday at 4:24 PM!

Six-hour precipitation from 7 AM Tuesday to 7 PM Friday.

Meanwhile, we will be tracking a couple of precipitation chances next week - one from later Tuesday into Wednesday and another Thursday into early Friday. Daytime temperatures should allow it to be mostly rain in the metro, with mixed precipitation (including possibly some freezing rain) and snow possible mainly in the overnight and morning hours. We'll keep an eye on these precipitation chances over the next several days to see how much impact they'll have on the region.

Spring Stages a Comeback By Monday
By Paul Douglas

My favorite Blarney Stones froze solid yesterday. I went to bed in March, woke up in January with wicked winds and subzero windchills. I miss being comfortably numb. It didn't stop the Irish from having a fun-filled parade in St. Paul. That's the definition of "hearty".

The sun is too high in the sky for it to stay this nippy for long. Expect mid-20s today with clouds and flakes giving way to some sunshine. 30s return Sunday with 30s and a few 40s next week; maybe mid-40s the last week of March, with a few 50-degree readings over far southern counties. Vague, ethereal hints of spring to come.

I am more conflicted than usual. As much as I'd love to wake up to 60s, robins and the rumble of thunder, that would be borderline disastrous with all the water locked up in our snow pack. Limping into spring with WEEKS of 30s and 40s lowers the risk of serious river flooding later in April.

I see a little rain next Tuesday-Wednesday, possibly slush late next week. Don't put the snow shovels away just yet eh?

Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SATURDAY: Numbing, PM clearing. Wake up 15. High 24. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind NW 15-25 mph.

SUNDAY: Sunny and not as harsh. Wake up 8. High 34. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 10-20 mph.

MONDAY: Blue skies, feels like March again. Wake up 24. High 40. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 8-13 mph.

TUESDAY: Metro rain, wet snow north of MSP. Wake up 28. High 41. Chance of precipitation 70%. Wind NE 8-13 mph.

THURSDAY: Chance of a little wet snow. Wake up 31. High 36. Chance of precipitation 60%. Wind N 10-20 mph.

FRIDAY: Any snow tapers to flurries. Wake up 25. High 33. Chance of precipitation 60%. Wind NW 10-20 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
March 18th

*Length Of Day: 12 hours, 2 minutes, and 31 seconds
*Daylight GAINED Since Yesterday: 3 minutes and 9 seconds

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This Day in Weather History
March 18th

1968: No one was hurt when an early season tornado touches down in Watonwan County.

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For your Saturday, we're expecting lake-effect snow downwind of the Great Lakes. A frontal boundary brings showers and storms from the eastern Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast. A system near the Southern Plains/Southwest in Mexico will bring precipitation chances. And, as we head into Saturday Night, a new system out west will start to bring in some rain and higher-elevation snow.

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Scientists discover signs of 'modern' glacier on Mars that hints at buried water ice

More from Space.com: "Remnants of a modern glacier have been found near Mars' equator, suggesting ice may still exist at shallow depths in the area. If confirmed, such a discovery could have significant implications for future human exploration on the Red Planet. Using data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), researchers from the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute detected light-toned deposits (LTDs) on the Martian surface. These features consist of light-colored sulfate salts, crevasse fields and moraine bands, which are signs of a "relict glacier." This relict glacier is located near Mars' equator at 7° 33' S, 93° 14' W, and is estimated to be 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) long and up to 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, with a surface elevation reaching up to 1.1 miles (1.7 km), according to a statement(opens in new tab) from the SETI Institute."

How climatetech incubators rallied to help startups after SVB collapse

More from Canary Media: "Climatetech incubators and startup accelerators help entrepreneurs turn their fledgling ideas into products and technologies by serving as early-stage investors, mentors and networkers that connect newcomers to more established firms. In recent days, however, such programs have taken on another role: crisis manager. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last Friday sent shockwaves through the U.S. economy and the clean energy industry in particular. More than 1,500 companies working on climate-focused technologies had their money tied up in the financial institution — including climatetech startups that suddenly had to worry about being forced to shut down just as they were gaining their footing. As the dust continues to settle, it's still unclear how deeply the debacle will affect companies that are developing novel and expensive technologies geared at fighting climate change. Leaders of programs that foster and develop startups say their organizations can play an important role in helping entrepreneurs through this next period of uncertainty."

More from PV Magazine: "Following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and The Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sees the nation on a path to rapid, near-term growth in emissions-free electricity, while reducing costs for consumers, lowering harmful pollution, mitigating climate change, and creating new economic opportunities along the way. In collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the DOE evaluated an advanced planning model that identifies least-cost power-sector investment portfolios accounting for major provisions of both laws. Provisions evaluated include, among others, tax credits for new clean electricity generation, energy storage, and carbon capture and sequestration and a variety of non-tax IRA and Infrastructure Law provisions. The analysis found that clean electricity as a percentage of total generation could increase to over 80% in 2030 under mid-case assumptions. The low-case and high-case projections place clean energy's share of electricity generation between 71% to 90%. This is substantially greater than the 41% share emissions-free electricity achieved in 2022."

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Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

- D.J. Kayser