Chill returns, but milder light at end of a cold tunnel?
That was fleeting, but nice!
Wednesday was indeed the warmest day in the Twin Cities so far this year. It looks like we'll have to wait another two weeks to enjoy the next "warmest day."
Cold fronted again
You can blame our stubborn lingering March chill this year on another stuck jet stream pattern. A persistent upper level low swirling over Hudson Bay continues to deal a family of cold fronts south toward Minnesota. The 500 millibar upper air maps show the cold blue vortex spinning over Hudson Bay.
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Note the last few frames which offer some hope for milder weather toward the end of the first week in April. Some models are suggesting 60s by the second week in April. I'll need to see a little more consistency before I fully buy that, but it's hopeful.
Frigid weekend ahead
Warning: Look away if squeamish. The weather numbers show more cold ahead for Easter weekend.
Friday night snow?
NOAA's GFS model continues to be the outlier predicting a few inches of snow for the Twin Cities Friday night. I'm still not sold on that solution. The European and NAM models suggest mostly rain for the Twin Cities, with most of the accumulating snow north. The Canadian models agrees.
I think the best chance of 2" to 5" of snow by Saturday morning will be along a St. Cloud-Mora-Rice Lake line. I'm leaning toward just a minor coating in the Twin Cities Saturday early morning.
An average winter
It seems like winter has lasted forever. But by most measures, this has been a fairly average winter in Minnesota.
Hang in there!