Mild temperatures ahead next week

After brutally cold temperatures plagued our area most of last week, things could not look more different for the week ahead.

Temperatures on Sunday will be on the mild side, with highs in the upper 20F’s to lower 30F’s. Winds will be a bit breezy out of the southwest, gusting up to 25 mph during the afternoon. This will prevent wind chill temperatures from climbing much higher than about 20F or so.

Winds crossing the Canadian Rockies will result in a pool of warmer air sinking southeastward out of the Canadian Prairies early next week ahead of a few amplifying storm systems. The first warm wave arrives Monday with high temperatures across southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa will be in the upper 30F’s to lower 40F’s! Nearly 20F above average for this time of year!

A weak cold front passes through Monday afternoon, but doesn’t have much a cooler down behind it for our neck of the woods. In fact, winds shift quickly to out of the southwest Tuesday, resulting in even warmer air making its way through our area. This will result in high temperatures in the low to mid 40F’s across the area Tuesday afternoon as the second warm wave passes through.

Another cold front passes through the area Tuesday night into Wednesday, with cooler air from north central Canada behind it. High temperatures drop into the lower 30F’s Wednesday, which is still well above average for this time of year.

More warm air begins to pool to our west later next week and quickly moves into Minnesota and Iowa next Thursday and Friday. Resulting high temperatures will be in the upper 30F’s to lower 40F’s once again, but confidence in these temperatures is slightly lower. High temperatures in the 30F’s look to stick around into next weekend.

Something to keep in mind this week, is that while temperatures will be quite warm for this time of year, it will be breezy each day, with winds gusting over the 20 mph range at times. This will result in it feeling a bit cooler than it actually is outside. Regardless, it will feel warm compared to what we had across the area last week!

There are limited precipitation chances this week, with only a slight chance of a few flurries Monday afternoon, and then again early Wednesday morning. Overall, things look fairly quite across the area for the time being despite the warmer temperatures.