Sunday Saw The First 50F Of 2023 - Quiet Monday, But Another Storm Looms Tuesday & Wednesday

Despite our recent heavy snow here in the metro, strong southerly winds helped boost the temperature into the low 50s Sunday. That marked the first 50F of the year for the Twin Cities.

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While we will see a few peeks of sun within the first hours of the day Monday, it'll be a mostly cloudy day in the metro. Morning temperatures start just a few degrees below freezing but will climb into the mid-40s as we see another day of some melting snow.

A few areas of light snow will be possible across northern Minnesota as we head through the day (with mainly under an inch of accumulations) - otherwise, mainly cloudy skies are expected across the state. I don't think an isolated shower can be ruled out, though, across southeastern Minnesota toward sunset. Highs will range from the mid/upper 20s in northwestern Minnesota to near 50F in southeastern portions of the state.

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Forecast loop from 7 AM Tuesday to 7 PM Wednesday.

We continue to watch the potential for another major winter storm to impact the region as we head into Tuesday and Wednesday. Precipitation will likely start as some snow Tuesday morning, transitioning to rain here in the metro throughout the day. A wintry mix (potentially including icing) will set up in central Minnesota, with snow continuing north of that. Very gradually Tuesday Night into Wednesday precipitation will start to change back over to all snow in areas that see any sort of changeover. Very heavy snow with this system will fall in parts of northern and western Minnesota and strong wind gusts of 40-50+ mph will lead to blizzard conditions. Just south of the heavy snow, where we see some of that icing set up, a narrow band of 0.1"+ of ice will be possible leading to slick conditions. Thunderstorms could occur in southern Minnesota, with small hail once again being a possibility like last Friday.

Icing will also be a concern with this storm - in many of the same areas that saw some icing concerns with our storm last week. Through Wednesday morning, some icing of up to 0.2" could occur from southwestern Minnesota to around the Twin Ports.

Strong winds will also accompany this system - particularly in areas where we see snowfall in northern and western Minnesota - that will lead to whiteout/blizzard conditions. It could be an extended period of blizzard conditions - especially in northwestern Minnesota into the Dakotas. The expectation of heavy snow and blizzard conditions will likely lead to road closures.

Winter Storm Watches are in place across western and northern Minnesota - as close to the metro as the St. Cloud area - where the heavy snow and potential of blizzard conditions are in place.

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With Friday Night's 8.5" of snow in the Twin Cities, MSP Airport is now up to 89.7" of snow for the season. Because of that, we're now in third place for the snowiest winter on record! We need 5.4" to move into second place (which is 95" in the 1981-82 winter) and 8.9" for first place (currently 98.6" in the 1983-84 winter). Elsewhere across the state:

This Week's Storm: Mostly Rain for Metro
By Paul Douglas

"No officer, I have not been drinking. I was driving erratically to avoid Prius-size potholes." I was serenaded by chirping birds and gurgling drainspouts yesterday. Woohoo! The Big Meltdown of '23 has resumed with a first-50 degree reading across much of the area yesterday. The Twin Cities National Weather Service notes that a first-50 in April has been observed 10% of the time since 1881. It usually comes in March. At the risk of being blissfully naive, Friday night's snow blitz may have been the last of winter, at least in the metro area.

A quiet, cooler Monday gives way to rain and a few embedded T-storms Tuesday, as a storm tracks from Denver to Bemidji. I wouldn't be shocked to see a few severe reports (mostly hail) over southeast Minnesota. A surge of warmth aloft will mean rain freezing on contact up north, with ice storm potential for Duluth; maybe a quarter inch of glaze? 6-12" snow will plaster northwest Minnesota.

Expect a blustery Twins Home Opener with 30s & wind chill. ECMWF hints at 60F Saturday.

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MONDAY: Mostly cloudy, dry. Wake up 32. High 42. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind W 8-13 mph.

TUESDAY: Metro rain, few strong T-storms. Wake up 33. High 38. Chance of precipitation 100%. Wind SE 20-35 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Winds gust to 50. Metro coating? Wake up 32. High 35. Chance of precipitation 70%. Wind SW 25-50 mph.

THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy, windy. Feels like 20F. Wake up 21. High 35. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NW 15-30 mph.

FRIDAY: Sunny, trending milder again. Wake up 18. High 46. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SE 10-20 mph.

SUNDAY: Unsettled, few rain showers. Wake up 40. High 54. Chance of precipitation 50%. Wind SW 10-20 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
April 3rd

*Length Of Day: 12 hours, 52 minutes, and 49 seconds
*Daylight GAINED Since Yesterday: 3 minutes and 6 seconds

*When do we see 13 Hours of Daylight?: April 6th (13 hours, 2 minutes, 7 seconds)
*When Is The Sunrise At/Before 6:30 AM? April 14th (6:30 AM)
*When Is The Sunset At/After 8 PM? April 17th (8:00 PM)

This Day in Weather History
April 3rd

1999: An ice storm hits Duluth and the Arrowhead. An 800 foot television tower in Duluth collapses due to the weight of the ice.

1982: A sharp cold front causes the temperature at Lamberton in Redwood County to drop from 78 to 7 degrees. This 71 degree change in 24 hours is the maximum 24-hour temperature change in Minnesota.

1837: A snowstorm rages for four days at Ft. Snelling and dumps 9 inches.

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In those heavy snow areas through Tuesday evening, easily over a foot of snow could fall (with two feet possible for some). That snow will continue into parts of northern Minnesota into Wednesday. The heaviest rain is expected in the Southern Plains, with 3"+ possible for some.

Forecast loop from 7 PM CDT Monday to 7 PM CDT Wednesday.

As we head through the first half of the week we will be watching that developing strong system bring heavy snow, blizzard conditions, icing, and heavy rain to the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest - with severe weather on the south side from Iowa and Illinois south to Texas.

Total snow of 1-2 feet of snow will be possible from the Great Basin to the Upper Midwest, and with 40-50+ mph wind gusts, we will have to watch the potential for an extended period of blizzard conditions.

Due to the snow and wind potential, Blizzard Warnings and Winter Storm Watches have been issued.

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Conserving Wildlife Can Help Mitigate Climate Change

More from Yale School of the Environment: "Protecting wildlife across the world could significantly enhance natural carbon capture and storage by supercharging ecosystem carbon sinks, a new study led by Yale School of the Environment Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology Oswald Schmitz has found. The study, published in Nature Climate Change and co-authored by 15 scientists from eight countries, examined nine wildlife species — marine fish, whales, sharks, grey wolves, wildebeest, sea otters, musk oxen, African forest elephants, and American bison. The data shows that protecting or restoring their populations could collectively facilitate the additional capture of 6.41 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually. This is 95% of the amount needed every year to meet the Paris Agreement target of removing enough carbon from the atmosphere to keep global warming below the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold."

American cities want to recycle their plastic trash in Mexico. Critics call it 'waste colonialism.'

More from Grist: "Just ahead of this year's Super Bowl in February, the City of Phoenix, Arizona, published a peculiar press release touting its strategy for waste diversion. Thanks to its relationship with Direct Pack Incorporated, a multinational company that makes and recycles plastic, the city said it would be able to send much of its plastic waste to Mexico for recycling. "[T]he City of Phoenix stands ready to achieve its goal of hosting the greenest Super Bowl events yet," the announcement from Phoenix's public works department said. The city was referring to a forthcoming Direct Pack facility for recycling plastic items called PET thermoforms — clamshells, berry containers, salad boxes, egg cartons, and similarly shaped containers made from polyethylene terephthalate, one of the seven main kinds of plastic. Direct Pack already has a recycling facility in Guadalajara that it says can recycle tens of thousands of tons of PET thermoforms each year, and it's been constructing a new one in Mexicali, Mexico, just across the border from California."

More from Canary Media: "In 2019, Tesla CEO Elon Musk boasted, ​"This is the year of the solar roof." The next year, he said the pioneering EV company would soon be installing 1,000 integrated solar roofs tailored to the building per week. It turns out that 2019 absolutely was not the year of the solar roof — not even close. And neither was 2020, nor any year since. This reporter estimated in 2021 that Tesla had installed fewer than 1,000 integrated solar roofs total — an assessment bolstered by new analysis. A report released today by energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie estimates that Tesla has installed approximately 3,000 solar roofs in the U.S. since the launch of the product in 2016. That's several hundred thousand roofs short of Musk's hallucinatory forecasts."

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- D.J. Kayser