Adding to our cold weather tally; Valentine’s Day warmth
Our average high temp this time of year is 28 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area.
We'll have to wait a few days for warmer than normal temps.
Our Sunday highs will be mainly in the teens across Minnesota, with some spots in the south touching 20 degrees.
Parts of northern Minnesota could see highs in the single digits Monday afternoon, with teens elsewhere in Minnesota.
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We might flirt with 20 degrees late Sunday afternoon in the Twin Cities, followed by Monday highs in the mid-teens.
Warmer on Tuesday and Wednesday
Highs on Tuesday look respectable, with 20s in most of Minnesota:
Near-average highs will feel mild, after our recent cold stretch.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a few spots in southern Minnesota creep into the lower 30s Tuesday afternoon.
Valentine's Day could feature highs in the 40s in about the southern half of Minnesota:
The north will see highs in the 30s on Wednesday.
Twin Cities metro area highs drop back to the upper 20s on Thursday, followed by mid 20s on Friday.
Snow potential
The northern quarter of Minnesota has the best chance of snow showers this Sunday and Sunday evening, then the entire state has a chance of snow showers Tuesday morning.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential snow pattern Sunday through Tuesday morning:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of snow.
Lots of negative numbers
The low temp at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was -2 this Sunday morning.
Our official Twin Cities low temp has now dropped to zero or colder on 26 days this winter.
The Twin Cities metro area has an average of 23 days per winter with a low temp of zero degrees or colder.
In the "polar vortex" winter of 2013-2014, the Twin Cities had a whopping 53 days with a low temp of zero degrees or colder.
So there's that!
Chicago ties snow record
From Saturday night through 6 a.m. Sunday, Chicago received about three and a half inches of fresh snow.
Add that to the eight to nine inch totals of Thursday into Friday, and they've seen plenty of snow recently.
Sunday was a record-tieing ninth consecutive day with measureable snow in Chicago:
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.