Record March wind gust at MSP, much warmer late next week

NOAA GFS 2-meter temps via tropical tidbits.

Another day, and yet one more March weather record for Minnesota.

Monday's tornadoes were the earliest on record. Tuesday continued to produce record early ice outs on Minnesota lakes. Wednesday whistling winds provided the 3rd consecutive day of record weather this week. Winds peaked at 60 mph at MSP Airport Wednesday. That tied the highest wind gust ever recorded at MSP during the month of March.

Wintry for now

Our winds blew in some respectable cold air for early March. Sub-zero temps return to northern Minnesota this week. The weather maps look more like the February we never had into next Tuesday morning.

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NOAA GFS 2-meter temps via tropical tidbits.

Sunday snow: Tracks favor southern Minnesota

The latest forecast model trends continue to favor a southerly track for snow Sunday. NOAA's GFS suggests accumulation for southern Minnesota, with a potential glancing dusting for the Twin Cities.

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NOAA GFS model via tropical tidbits.

The Euro favors a slightly more northerly track which could mean slightly higher snowfall for the Twin Cities. Stay tuned on that one.

Warmer late next week?

The upper air pattern across North America look more "zonal" (west to east) starting late next week. That should push a much milder Pacific air mass into the region, and warmer temperatures.

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NOAA 500 millibar chart fro Saturday evening March 18th.

Given the evolving upper air pattern and multitude of models favoring a warm up, I'm gaining confidence in the notion of temps in the upper 50s approaching 60 degrees starting the weekend of Mar 18-19 and pushing into the following week.

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Custom Weather

False spring

Minnesota is not the only place to have seriously early warmth, followed by a March cold snap. The warm February appears to have thrown a serious head fake to the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C.. The coming cold may cause damage to the annual right of spring.

EPA's Scott Pruitt says CO2 isn't a primary contributor to climate change.

Many climate scientists expected this, but are still in shock that a top government offical would refute widely accepted science and what many say is proven to a scientific certainty. Here's more from Forbes.