Only in Minnesota, tornado drill sirens and heavy snow at the same time

Welcome to Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Weather Possibilities.

At the same time.

Thursday's featured weathertainment? Heavy snow falling in northeast Minnesota while tornado drill sirens wail in seasonally confused disapproval.

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Snow and sirens at the same time in Duluth Thursday. Lake Superior Maritime Museum.

Hopefully we all got our severe weather ducks in a row this week. For the Arrowhead, it's one more trip to the garage to dig out the snow blowers and shovels.

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Billion Dollar Rain?

Well maybe not literally this one. But we badly needed this inch-plus soaker in much of southern Minnesota. The way it fell was ideal. Slow. Soaking. The Weather Lab spruce trees seem to be as happy as can be. Many locations including the Huttner Weather Lab in the west metro recorded just over an inch of rain.

Here's a look at the past 24 hours animated radar loop from Weather Underground as the widespread rain shield soaks the area.

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Weather Underground

 Fab Friday ahead

It gets (temporarily) better fast. Friday looks great with sunshine returning and temps soaring into the 60s. Here's the Global Forecast System take on events Friday.

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Weatherspark

Next April soaker arrives by Sunday

Enjoy the sun Friday and Saturday. The next (still needed) April soaker arrives Sunday into early next week.

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Weatherspark

This one could develop into a "cutoff low" and linger for a few days. There's an old saying: "A cutoff low is a weatherman's woe." That means they are hard to handle, since they are separated from the consistent steering currents of the jet stream. Cutoffs often linger and models have a hard time predicting the duration and eventual exit of cutoffs.

Stay tuned.

Wet pattern continues for now

The overall weather pattern looks wet for now. here's a look ta the latest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 7-day precipitation. As much as 6 inches of rain may soak the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, with Minnesota riding the northern edge of the wetness.

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NOAA

Models are sorting out their differences, but there are still signs of a substantial warm up by next weekend, May 3-4. Here's the Euro notion of temperatures next Friday and Saturday.

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Weatherspark

Stay tuned!

Seeley: Soil temps warming up, field work stopped

This week's thaw and rain are good news for dry soils, but have stopped field work for now. My MPR News colleague and University of Minnesota climate guru Mark Seeley has details in this week's Weather Talk. As always, Mark will elaborate Friday in the 6 a.m. hour on MPR News, but here's a preview.

Topic: Spring field work stopped

Just as the Minnesota agricultural landscape had finally thawed and dried enough to permit field work earlier this week, a large storm system brought widespread precipitation to the state over April 23-25, stopping any significant progress in field work by farmers.  Widespread amounts ranging from 0.50 inches to 1.0 inches occurred around the state, falling mostly as rain.  Bemidji reported 2.5 inches of snow on Wednesday night (April 23) which is a record amount for the date.  In addition a number of northeastern Minnesota climate observers reported snowfall on April 24th.

 

Topic:  Soil temperature update

Soil temperature have been moderating this week ranging from the mid 40s F to mid 50s F at the 4 inch depth, except for some far northern locations which have seen average soil temperatures in the mid 30s F.  A number of observers report a frost layer between 20 and 30 inches which is the last remnant of deep ground frost from this long, cold winter.  Surface mulches should be removed by now so the soil can take in more spring moisture and also warm up more directly from the higher spring sun angles. With the threat of frost seen for the early to middle parts of next week, it is wise to hold off on transplanting any potted plants from the indoors to outdoors until after next week.