Spring’s first 70 degree temps in sight

Your thermometer will do something Saturday it hasn't done for five months.

The warmest air mass of the year so far blows in this weekend. A warm south wind boosts temps into the 70s Saturday afternoon. Some thermometers may flirt with the 80-degree mark in western Minnesota. Long lost color splashes of orange and red blot the weather maps Saturday.

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The coming April heat wave will be the warmest weather we've felt in Minnesota since early November. Temperatures last reached the 70s at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport the weekend of Nov. 5-6.

Sun returns Thursday

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Clouds linger across most of southern Minnesota. A storm system across Iowa slides east tonight. The sun returns Thursday through Saturday as high pressure returns. Balmy south winds kick in Saturday as the next low-pressure system gathers in the Dakotas.

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NOAA GFS via tropical tidbits.

April heat dome

Saturday's upper air map looks more like late May. A sharp, warm ridge of high pressure sets up over the Upper Midwest.

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NOAA

After two more days in the close to average 50s, temperatures soar into the 70s this weekend across most of southern Minnesota.

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NOAA

Friday and Saturday look simply spectacular.

Sunday rain?

There are still major model differences regarding rain chances Sunday across southern Minnesota and in the Twin Cities. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System model cranks out a northerly storm track and keeps most of the soaking rain in northern Minnesota.

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NOAA GFS Sunday via tropical tidbits.

The Canadian GEM and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts models favor a more southerly storm track. That would bring significant rainfall, and a thunder threat, to the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota.

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Canadian GEM model via tropical tidbits.

Right now there is so much divergence in models that the only reasonable forecast is to keep it mild Sunday and include a chance of rain. At this point Sunday's forecast is low confidence.

Stay tuned.

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