Minnesota WeatherTalk

Brief April Update: With cooler than normal temperatures earlier this week, some areas of the state reported measurable snowfalls, the first time this month. Portions of Beltrami, Koochiching, Kittson, Becker, and Itasca Counties reported 1-2 inches of snowfall. It was short-lived as temperatures warmed up towards the end of the week. More moisture is expected over the weekend and next week to close out the month of April, so I will not provide a climate summary for the month until next Friday. It appears that the month will be wetter than normal for most areas of the state, helping to alleviate the drought situation, which should continue to improve. Of further note it looks like the first two weeks of May will be warmer and wetter than normal over much of the state. Good news for farmers who got their fields planted this week. Winds have continued to be strong this month, with a remarkable number of days bringing wind gusts of 30 mph or greater. The Twin Cities have seen 22 s...

Near record warmth, followed by widespread, welcome rains: Last weekend was by far the best weather of the year so far, with warm temperatures, bright, sunny skies, and comfortable humidity. Temperatures rose above forecasted highs on Saturday (April 13), and though a few degrees cooler on Sunday, temperatures remained quite comfortable for outdoor activities. A few long-term climate stations reported new record daily high temperatures over the weekend. Some of these included: 89°F at Canby (Yellow Medicine County) 88°F at Milan (Chippewa County) 87°F at Winnebago (Faribault County) 85°F at Litchfield (Meeker County) 83°F at Wheaton (Traverse County) 76°F at Cass Lake (Cass County) Following the warm weekend, a large area of low pressure brought showers and thunderstorms to most of the state over Tuesday and Wednesday, providing good, soaking rains to many areas that needed it. Rainfall amounts in the north were generally less than an inch, but many observers in central and southe...

Rain and warmth prevail this week: A dose of welcome rain came this week or April 7-8. It was nearly ideal, as the rainfall rates closely matched the infiltration rates of most Minnesota soils, so that the soils absorbed nearly all of the moisture. Total rainfall was generally less than an inch in many northern areas, but elsewhere many observers reported over 1 inch of rainfall. A few places reported between 1.25 and 1.50 inches. Milaca (Mille Lacs County) in central Minnesota reported a new daily record rainfall of 1.23 inches on April 8th. Despite these beneficial rains, the state drought status remained about the same this week, with about 44 percent of the state landscape in either Moderate or Severe Drought (most of the counties are in north-central, extreme northwest, or southeast sections of the state). With soils drying out and warming up, farmers are expected to begin planting crops full throttle sometime next week, unless interrupted by the rains coming on Tuesday. Fol...

April starts out windy, with snow for some: A strong winter storm grazed southeastern Minnesota over April 2-3 earlier this week, bringing 1 to 3 inches of snow across parts of seven counties. Caledonia (Houston County) reported a record 3.7 inches, while Grand Meadow (Mower County) reported a record 2.5 inches. Another observer in southern Houston County reported 7.5 inches. Some of the heaviest loads of snow from this storm were recorded in Wisconsin. On April 2nd, several climate stations reported record daily snowfalls, including: 5.1 inches at Green Bay 7.1 inches at Rhinelander 11.8 inches at La Crosse And for April 3rd some record daily snowfall amounts included 7.8 inches at Appleton 9.0 inches at Arlington (north of Madison, WI) 9.0 inches at La Farge 5.8 inches at Oshkosh Marquette, MI in the Upper Peninsula reported 14 inches of snowfall from this storm on April 3rd which was a new daily record there as well. April is also living up to its reputation as the windiest mont...