April snow stats are impressive; fast melt, with a shot at 60 this week
Our latest storm dropped nine-tenths of an inch of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as it pulled away on Friday, bringing our snowstorm total to 9.8 inches. I've highlighted a few entries on the Twin Cities daily climate report:
Our official 2018-2019 season snowfall total now sits at 77.1 inches at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. That's an impressive number, since about 66 of those 77 inches have fallen since mid-January!
Notice that the snow depth is already down to three inches at MSP airport; snow melts quickly in April.
Top ten April snowstorms
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Our latest snowstorm was the fifth largest snowstorm in Twin Cities weather records:
The listing was created by the climatology office early Friday afternoon, before we reached the final snow tally of 9.8 inches.
We had two big snowstorms in the Twin Cities last April, so three of our top ten April snowstorms have happened since April 1, 2018!
The Minnesota State Climatology Office has a detailed discussion of the biggest April snowstorms in the metro area and elsewhere in Minnesota here.
You can check snow accumulations from our latest storm as they are posted by the National Weather Service. Hover over a location on their snow map site to see the snow total and the time of observation.
You might want to move the slider at the top of their map to 48 hours or 72 hours to include snow reports that came in on Thursday.
A county by count-by-county listing of snow reports can be found here.
Rain and snow chances
Eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin could see a few scattered flurries or light snow showers this Saturday. Sunday looks rain/snow free.
Our next big weather system moves in Tuesday night and lingers though Thursday night, with soaking rains expected.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern Tuesday night through Friday morning:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the precipitation rate (mm per hour), not to the total amount of rain or snow.
You'll notice that this model shows a wintry mix Thursday night as the system pulls away. At this point, it looks like we have the potential for a couple of inches of rain from this system from late Tuesday night through Thursday. We'll see how the forecast models change over the next few days.
As always, updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you’ll also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
Temperature trends
Saturday afternoon highs are expected to range from the upper 30s to lower 40s across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
Sunday afternoon highs will be in the 40s:
Our average high temp is 58 degrees this time of year in the Twin Cities metro area, so 40s are chilly.
Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 50s on Monday and around 60 degrees on Tuesday, followed by mid 50s Wednesday, lower 50s Thursday and mid 50s on Friday.
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.