Wintry AM mix today, light snows this week

January Thaw 2015

Our January delivered this year.

  • 35 degrees high temp at MSP last Thursday (+12 degrees vs. average)

  • 38 degrees high temp at MSP Saturday (+ 15 degrees vs. average)

  • 39 degrees high temp at MSP Sunday (+16 degrees vs. average)

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119 Jan thaw Deer Run
Bright sun and dwindling snow cover in Victoria Sunday afternoon. Paul Huttner/MPR News

Today marks day #4 above the thawing point in the Twin Cities and the southern half of Minnesota.

An incoming upper level wave delivers a spotty wintry mix this morning, but as the wave zips east we should see the sun break out once again this afternoon across a good chunk of Minnesota. Minnesota lies on the edge of a mild Pacific air mass once again today. Southwest Minnesota basks in spring-like 40s this afternoon, while the Twin Cities reaches the mid to upper 30s once again.

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NOAA

It's interesting to note that while winter lite clings to Minnesota, very spring like air masses have been close by. Temps have run in the 60s as close as Topeka and Kansas City in the past few days, with 50s well into Iowa. Today features another day of unseasonable spring-like warmth south along I-35. Golf in Des Moines anyone?

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NOAA

Clipperville

A fast northwest flow races overhead in the upper atmosphere this week 30,000 feet above us.

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Jet stream winds at the 500 millibar level about 18,000 feet above ground. Climate Reanalyzer

That jet stream pushes a series of weak Alberta Clipper through Minnesota this week. Look for bouts of light mixed precip today, trending toward mostly snow Tuesday night.

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NOAA

Precip totals stay light, but we may squeeze out a snowy inch or two for parts of Minnesota this week. In other words, just enough to gum up the roads, especially Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Here's the NAM model snowfall outlook for the next 48 hours.

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wxcaster.com

Winter lite

This week feels like winter lite around Minnesota. Temps cool a bit, but still run a good 5 to 10 degrees above seasonal averages. The best shot at a snowy coating to freshen the winter landscape? Tuesday evening.

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Weatherspark

MAX/MIN TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION TABLE FOR MINNESOTA

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN

702 AM CST MON JAN 19 2015

VALUES REPRESENT HIGHS YESTERDAY...LOWS OVER THE LAST 12 HOURS

AND PRECIPITATION OVER THE LAST 24 HOURS

.BR MSP 0119 C DH00/TAIRZX/DH06/TAIRZP/PPDRZZ/SFDRZZ/SDIRZZ

ASOS - STATE OF MINNESOTA

WITH PRECIPITATION/SNOWFALL/SNOW DEPTH REPORTS

:

: MAX MIN SNOW SNOW

:ID LOCATION TEMP TEMP PCPN FALL DEPTH

DLH : DULUTH : 32 / 16 / T / T / 7

INL : INTERNATIONAL FALLS : 31 / -5 / 0.01/ 0.3/ 16

MSP : MINNEAPOLIS MN : 39 / 22 / 0.00/ 0.0/ 2

RST : ROCHESTER MN : 35 / 16 / 0.00/ 0.0/ 3

STC : ST CLOUD MN : 39 / 20 / T / T / 1

AXN : ALEXANDRIA MN : 35 / 20 /

GNA : GRAND MARAIS : 30 / 10/

HIB : HIBBING : 32 / 4 /

RWF : REDWOOD FALLS MN : 40 / 27 /

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Patches of grass appear in Victoria Sunday. Paul Huttner/MPR News

Snow drought

  • 19.3" season snowfall to date at MSP Airport

  • -9.7" vs. average

  • 27.3" season snowfall last winter on this date

  • 14" snow depth at MSP 1 year ago today

We're way behind last winter on snowfall so far this winter. A year ago we shoveled our way through 14" on the ground in the Twin Cities.

Snow cover took a hit over the weekend. The Twin Cities has lost over half our snow cover in the past 10 days, from 5" on January 9th to 2" today.

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NOAA/NOHRSC

Big chunks of western Minnesota are snow free in mid-January. You can clearly see the lack of snow cover on Sunday's NASA MODIS Terra 1,000 meter resolution satellite shot.

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NASA

Enjoy the mild afternoon!