Record January warmth; sloppy wintry mix arrives Sunday night

Minnesota's January thaw has moved into record territory.

The thermometer at MSP Airport reached 47-degrees Friday afternoon. That's good enough to smash the previous record of 41-degrees last set in 2007 by 6 degrees. Friday's weather maps looked more like late March. Highs in the 40s were common across the Upper Midwest.

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Temperatures Friday afternoon via Oklahoma Mesonet.

Mild weekend

We cool a few degrees but temperatures still run 10 to 20 degrees warmer than average across Minnesota this weekend.  Temperatures approach more seasonal levels late next week. The average high for the Twin Cities bottoms out at the low-point of the year at 23-degrees next week.

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NOAA forecast temperatures for Minneapolis via Weather Bell.

Rain and snow by late Sunday

Our next weather system looks significant. Rain and a wintry mix of ice and snow arrive in the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota late Sunday. Forecast models favor all snow north of MSP. Most models paint the rain-snow line close to MSP with this system. That likely means a messy mix of rain-ice-and snow for the greater Twin Cities area.

Here's NOAA's GFS model sequence of events.

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NOAA GFS Sunday and Monday via tropical tidbits.

Early snowfall totals favor a solid 3 to 6-inches across most of Minnesota north of the Twin Cities. Forecasting totals will be dicey for the Twin Cities with the rain-snow line hovering overhead. The most likely scenario at this point favors for more snow in the north metro, and less south.

Stay tuned!