Light rain possible on Easter, big warm-up next week

Here’s your Saturday evening forecast for April 8, 2023 from KSTP Meteorologist Matt Serwe.

To recap this week, Monday was our first 50°+ day of the year in the Twin Cities. That was almost 4 weeks late. Today, we hit 60°+ for the first time of the year, which is still about a week and a half later than average. We will continue to see very warm weather through the upcoming week, so a rapid snow melt is likely. Unfortunately, that likely means rapid rises on local rivers. If you live near a river, pay attention to river forecasts in the coming days.

On Easter, there is still a chance for light rain in the afternoon. The potential for lightning and thunder is going down, which is good for local egg hunts. It should be a brief 30-45 minutes of light rain at the most, sometime between 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM in the Twin Cities. The clouds and rain drop temperatures a little bit, but highs still reach the low 60s in the metro. Central Minnesota tops out in the low to mid 50s, and the western part of the state stays in the upper 40s and low 50s.

A large ridge in the jet stream and south to southwest winds dominate the forecast next week. Highs soar well above average for several days. The first 70°+ day in the Twin Cities is likely Tuesday, which is one day earlier than average. Our first 80°+ day comes on Wednesday, which would be 4 weeks earlier than average! In fact, the record high of 83° is within reach on Wednesday afternoon. The hot stretch ends late next week with some rain chances Friday and Saturday.