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60...In Hibbing! Records tumble. Sunday night snow threat grows

Posted at 7:45 PM on February 16, 2011 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)
Filed under: Winter/spring 2011

Our Minnesota February thaw is taking on "Mega Thaw" proportions, and records are starting to fall.

Temperatures soared into the 50s Wednesday, a good 20 to 30 degrees above average. It was the warmest day in over 3 months for much of Minnesota. The last time temperatures reached the 50s in most Minnesota locations was early November.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 A 10 50s.jpg

Thanks to some "pine tree effect" and a tongue of warm air sliding through eastern Minnesota, the warmest readings were in the Iron Range and northeast part of the state. At 3pm Ely posted a temperature of 59 degrees...and Hibbing hit 60 Wednesday!

Check out some selected readings from 3pm Wednesday:

WEATHER ROUNDUP FOR MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
300 PM CST WED FEB 16 2011


NOTE: "FAIR" INDICATES FEW OR NO CLOUDS BELOW 12,000 FEET WITH NO
SIGNIFICANT WEATHER AND/OR OBSTRUCTIONS TO VISIBILITY. N/A MEANS
CURRENT SKY AND/OR WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE NOT AVAILABLE.

MNZ060>063-068>070-162200-
Twin Cities Metro

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS
TWIN CITIES PTSUNNY 51 30 44 SE8 29.72F
ST PAUL MOSUNNY 48 31 51 S10 29.73F
CRYSTAL MOSUNNY 54 27 35 S10 29.69F
BLAINE PTSUNNY 52 30 43 S12 29.70F
EDEN PRAIRIE PTSUNNY 49 30 48 S12 29.69F
SOUTH ST PAUL MOSUNNY 51 31 46 S7 29.72F

Northwest Minnesota

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS
BEMIDJI MOSUNNY 54 27 35 S13G20 29.54S

Northeast Minnesota

ELY MOSUNNY 59 23 25 SW7 29.61F
HIBBING MOSUNNY 57 26 30 VRB7G22 29.61F
EVELETH MOSUNNY 54 27 35 S14G22 29.64S
DULUTH HARBOR MOSUNNY 52 28 40 W17 29.69R
TWO HARBORS MOSUNNY 50 28 43 S10 29.65F
SILVER BAY MOSUNNY 54 27 35 SW8 29.65F
GRAND MARAIS N/A 44 31 60 W8 29.68F
G MARAIS ARPRT SUNNY 50 23 34 S5 29.68S

East Central Minnesota

MORA MOSUNNY 50 28 43 S6 29.70S
CAMBRIDGE MOSUNNY 50 37 62 SE7 29.70F
CLOQUET MOSUNNY 54 19 26 S10 29.67S

It was 51 at MSP Airport at 3pm, well shy of the record of 60 degrees for the day. Still it was the warmest day in the Twin Cities since November 11th when the temperature hit 52 degrees.

Duluth set a record high of 52 Wednesday...and with officially reports still coming in there will be a slew of record highs in northeast Minnesota tonight.

Growing snow threat Sunday night and Monday:

After Friday's cold front and a quiet weekend, the next weathermaker appears to be on the horizon Sunday night & Monday.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 A 10 Sun nt mon snow gfs.jpg
GFS: Heavy rain/snow shield in southern Minnesota Sunday night?

Latest indications are that low pressure will strengthen near Omaha Sunday night, and could shove a rain/snow mix into Minnesota. As the system slides into Iowa the precip could change to heavy wet snow by early Monday. One model (the GFS) is cranking out several inches of heavy wet wind driven snow by Monday noon.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 A 10 hvy snow mon.jpg
GFS cranks out heavy snow for MSP Airport Sunday night & Monday.
(click for a bigger, better view)

It's too early to say if this scenario will pan out, but be prepared for at least the possibility of significant (possibly heavy) snow late Sunday night & Monday.

As we say in the weather biz...stay tuned!


PH

Comments (1)

Ha! I love the "Mega Thaw" comment. That brought a smile to my face on an otherwise tough day. Paul, I along with most of your other followers, really appreciate your enthusiasm and insight for our crazy Minnesota weather!!!

Posted by Tommy | February 16, 2011 5:33 PM

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