Spring, sort of

You'll notice a touch of spring in the air today.

The bright morning sun will warm us nicely into the 40's before a batch of clouds dims the sun later this afternoon.

Spring begins astronomically at 12:48am Thursday morning. At that moment, the sun crosses the equator and begins the march northward toward the northern hemisphere summer solstice in June.

Spring sun angles are easy to remember here in the Twin Cities. We live at 45 degrees north latitude. When the sun is over the equator like today, the solar noon (1pmCDT) sun angle is about 45 degrees above the horizon.

The sun rises almost directly in the east, and sets directly in the west. When I was a kid we lived on an east-west oriented street. I used to watch the equinox sunsets directly in the middle of the road to the west. In the coming days, you will notice the morning and evening sun begin to peer into some of those north facing windows on your home that haven't seen direct sun in months.

Spring is a fickle season. That will be evident in our weather pattern over the next two weeks. After a fine spell of weather today and Thursday, the next wet sloppy snow system takes aim for Thursday night and Friday. The forecast models are cranking out another .46" of liquid with that system. That could put a swath of 4"+ somewhere in central Minnesota and Wisconsin, possibly including the Twin Cities.

Snow potential

We may see a big warm up by the middle and end of next week with upper 40's to near 50 degrees. The last days of March may feature our first 60 in southern Minnesota, followed by our first thunderstorms along about April 1st.

Get ready for a wild weather ride as spring takes hold!

PH