Warmer today; will feel like April on Friday
We've been over-performing in the temperature department lately.
Our coolest high temperature this week at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will be yesterday's 36 degree reading. Even that temp was 7 degrees above our average high of 29 degrees.
Through yesterday, February is running 6.2 degrees warmer than normal in the Twin Cities.
This graph of our daily Twin Cities high and low temperature ranges (black bars) shows that many days have been well above normal this winter:
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The green shaded area is the normal daily range of temperatures in the Twin Cities.
The record high and low temperatures for each date are traced by the red and blue lines.
Records will fall on Friday
Highs in the 40s are expected over much of Minnesota this Thursday afternoon, with some 30s for the northeast and 50s in the far southwest.
Southern Minnesota will see some 60s on Friday:
50s are expected for central Minnesota, with some 40s in the far north.
Friday's official high in the Twin Cities should reach at least the upper 50s, with an outside chance at 60 degrees.
The Twin Cities record high for Friday is 55 degrees, so we're likely to break that record. We have a shot at breaking high temp records this weekend as well:
According to the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service, we've only seen a February reading of 60 degrees or warmer in the Twin Cities four times since 1873:
Highs of 50 degrees or greater are expected from Friday through next Wednesday, making it a six-day stretch of April-like warmth.
We last saw 6 consecutive February days of 50+ in the Twin Cities in 1981!
Snow possibility
The warm temps of the next several days will help us save money on our heating bills.
That isn't much consolation to snow lovers who want to use their skies, sleds or snowmobiles in February.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows that we could see some snow toward the end of next week:
The green and purple shades indicate that southern Minnesota could see a wintry mix that changes to all snow. Central and northern Minnesota would tend to get all snow if the track of the low pressure system is accurate.
We'll see how the models change as we get closer to Feb. 24, but at least there's the possibility of snow!
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.