"February 28, 2022 - Spring leaf out continues to progress north through southern and western states. Our spring leaf anomaly compares the arrival of spring leaf out this year to a long-term average of 1991-2020. Spring leaf out started arriving over a week early in the southernmost part of Texas and Florida and then slowed, arriving one-two weeks late across much of the Southeast. In the last couple weeks, spring is progressing more rapidly, arriving a few days to a week early in the southern Great Plains and parts of North Carolina and Virginia. In western states, spring leaf out is patchy, arriving a week late in some locations and over a month early in others. Spring bloom has also started to arrive in southern states, days to a week late in Texas and Florida and days to several weeks early in California. Spring bloom is slightly early in South Carolina."

See more from NPN HERE:

Here's the weather outlook from AM Wednesday to PM Monday, which shows active weather as we head through the first few days of March. Weak clipper systems will bring a chance of a light wintry mix on Wednesday and Thursday. However, a much larger storm appears to be developing later in the week and weekend ahead with a messy mix. It's still too early to get specific, but stay tuned as the week progresses.

The weather outlook for Minneapolis on Wednesday shows a chance of a light wintry mix. Precipitation will be very light, but there could be a minor snow coating as well as a light ice glaze across parts of the region.

The hourly temps for Minneapolis on Wednesday show temps starting around 30F in the morning and topping out in the mid 30s by the afternoon. Northerly winds will blow around 20mph through the day.

Feels like temps for Minneapolis on Wednesday will be in the 20s through much of the day.

Wednesday temperatures will be close to average across the central part of the state, but will be below average across the northern part of the state by nearly -5F to -10F below average. Temps across the southern part of the state will warm to above average levels by nearly +5F to +10F above average.

The extended weather outlook through the week ahead shows somewhat active weather Wednesday and Thursday with light snow and and a light mix possible. A bigger storm develops Friday and into the weekend with a messy wintry mix. Stay tuned...

According to the ECMWF & GFS extended temperature outlook, readings will be quite a bit warmer than they were at the end of February. There appears to be a string of 20s and 30s with a couple of near 40F highs possible through mid month.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14 day temperature outlook shows colder temps across the Western half of the nation with warmer than average temps in the southeastern US.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8-14 Day precipitation outlook shows more active weather possible across the Central & Eastern US.

In no particular order, I'm looking forward to complaining about: mud, soggy doggy droppings, bugs, humidity, boisterous thunderstorms and rainy, ruined weekends. That will be a big upgrade.

Although 30s and a few 40s will dominate our weather into next week, models bring a brief arctic slap into town by mid-March. It would be premature to pack away the parkas just yet.

Or the snow shovels. A sloppy Saturday storm may drop plowable amounts of snow from Alexandria into the Minnesota Arrowhead, but mild air tangled up in the system could mean mostly ice and rain from the Twin Cities on south and east. Mixed precipitation storms are a sign that winter is on a slow fade. Spring is coming. No time soon, but sweaty, sticky, buggy, thundery days are coming back. Yep.

WEDNESDAY: AM flurries, PM clearing. Winds: N 8-13. High: 34.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy and quiet. Winds: N 5-10. Low: 14.

THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy, chilly. Winds: E 5-10. High: 25.

SATURDAY: Icy mix changes to rain MSP metro. Winds: NE 10-20. Wake-up: 31. High: 35.

SUNDAY: Flurries taper, some sunshine. Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 23. High: 32.

MONDAY: Partly sunny and brisk. Winds: W 10-15. Wake-up: 11. High: 24.

TUESDAY: Mild sunshine. Winds: W 8-13. Wake-up: 17. High: 40.

March 2nd

March 2nd

Average High: 35F (Record: 54F set in 1923)

Average Low: 19F (Record: -17F set in 1913)

Record Rainfall: 0.58" set in 1951)

Record Snowfall: 7.1" set in 1951

Sunrise: 6:48am

Sunset: 6:01pm

Hours of Daylight: ~11 hours & 13 minutes

Daylight GAINED since yesterday: ~ 3 minute & 06 seconds

Daylight GAINED since Winter Solstice (December 21st): ~ 2 Hour & 27 Minutes

The weather outlook on Wednesday shows above average temps in place across much of the nation. Some of the warmest temps will be found in the Central and Southwestern part of the nation with record to near record highs possible in a few locations.

Weather conditions through midweek shows a large storm system developing in the Western US with areas of rain and mountain snow. This will develop into a much larger storm in the Central US late week and the weekend ahead.

According to NOAA's Weather Prediction Center, areas of heavy precipitation will be found across parts of the Central US, Midwest and into the Great Lakes and Northeast. There will also be areas of heavy precipitation across the Pacific Northwest with heavy mountain snow potential.

Here's the ECMWF extended snowfall outlook through the week ahead, which shows areas of heavy snow across the northern tier of the nation and the Western US.

"In 1938, a British engineer and amateur meteorologist made a discovery that set off a fierce debate about climate change. Scientists had known for decades that carbon dioxide could trap heat and warm the planet. But Guy Callendar was the first to connect human activities to global warming. He showed that land temperatures had increased over the previous half-century, and he theorized that people were unwittingly raising Earth's temperature by burning fossil fuels in furnaces, factories and even his beloved motorcycles. When Callendar published his findings, it set off a firestorm. The scientific establishment saw him as an outsider and a bit of a meddling gentleman scientist. But, he was right. His theory became widely known as "the Callendar Effect." Today, it's known as global warming. Callendar defended his theory until his death in 1964, increasingly bewildered that the science met such resistance from those who did not understand it."

"Governments have delayed action on climate change for too long, and incremental changes in energy and food production will no longer be enough to create a climate-resilient future, a new analysis from scientists around the world warns. The world is already seeing harmful impacts from climate change, including extreme storms, heat waves and other changes that have pushed some natural and human systems to the limits of their ability to adapt. As temperatures continue to rise, transformational change is coming to how people live on Earth. Countries can either plan their transformations, or they can face the destructive, often chaotic transformations that will be imposed by the changing climate."

See more from The Conversation HERE:

"Climate breakdown is accelerating rapidly, many of the impacts will be more severe than predicted and there is only a narrow chance left of avoiding its worst ravages, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said. Even at current levels, human actions in heating the climate are causing dangerous and widespread disruption, threatening devastation to swathes of the natural world and rendering many areas unliveable, according to the landmark report published on Monday. "The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet," said Hans-Otto Pörtner, a co-chair of working group 2 of the IPCC. "Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future."

See more from The Guardian HERE: