7:20 PM Saturday, March 2, 2024
- Breezy northeast winds continue near Lake Superior through Sunday with wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph.
- Elsewhere in the Northland southeast winds with gusts to 25 mph are likely on Sunday.
- Winds become southwesterly area-wide Sunday night with a chance for another round of gusty winds of 15 to 35 mph in parts of the Northland.
- Lingering snow showers in far northern Minnesota near the Ontario border tonight.
- Scattered rain showers across the Northland Sunday into Sunday evening.
Interesting to note the cold front approaching from the southwest on Sunday will have dry line characteristics as dry air punches northeast into an air mass that is a little more humid. If we had some instability on Sunday, we’d likely see a few thunderstorms develop as this front moves through the Northland, but instability looks quite weak with CAPE of around 25 to 150 J/kg, and these low values of CAPE will probably mean that we see very little to no thunderstorm activity on Sunday, with only some showers likely instead as there should be enough forcing near the front to produce a little rain.
Not much rain is expected in the Northland Sunday with totals of only a trace to around 0.20 inches at best.
European model simulated radar forecast through Midnight Monday.
Rain (green)
Snow (blue)
Wintry Mix (orange and pink)
A large temperature contrast will be in place once again on Sunday with highs in the 60s to lower 70s in southern/eastern Minnesota into much of Wisconsin with cooler 40s in far northern Minnesota.
Note: Northeast winds off Lake Superior will keep temperatures in the mid 30s to low-mid 40s for locations near Lake Superior including Duluth on Sunday.
Also of note, if the temperature reaches 70 degrees in Minneapolis on Sunday, then this would be the earliest first 70 on record (March 5th)
Winter storm warnings and advisories are in effect through early Monday morning from northeast Montana across northern North Dakota into far northwest Minnesota.
A classic late winter/early spring storm setup in place today with high pressure and arctic air covering central/northern Canada today while much warmer air covered the Plains out ahead of a strong area of low pressure which was over northern Wyoming early this evening. This low will track northeast into northern South Dakota by around daybreak Sunday, and then will see this low lift north as it passes between Bismarck and Fargo, North Dakota during the day Sunday. This low is then expected to be over south-central portions of Manitoba Canada by Monday morning.
We saw quite a variety of weather across the region today.
First up north we saw an area of snow impact parts of northern/northeast North Dakota into far northwest Minnesota to as far east as the International Falls area with reports of 1 to 3 inches of snow accumulation in some locations today, including a report of 3.5 inches of snow at International Falls with heavy snow falling between 2:30 PM and 4:45 PM today. Temperatures were also much cooler in far northern Minnesota and over about the northern half of North Dakota today with highs in the 20s to lower 30s.
Farther south it was another day with mild temperatures with highs in the 50s and 60s across central/southern Minnesota into much of Wisconsin. Note: Ashland, Wisconsin tied their daily record high temperature for March 2nd with a high of 53 today, this record was set in 1993.
Near Lake Superior we saw northeast winds increase this afternoon with falling temperatures from the 40s to the 30s.
A larger view of temperatures from late Saturday afternoon.
Still seeing a lot of arctic air across central/northern Canada today while early summer like warmth was found across the central/southern Plains.
Thanks for reading!
Tim
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