Another weekend warm-up eyes Minnesota

KMSP, Minneapolis - Here we go again! This crazy El Nino winter season is once again teasing us with a another spring-like warm up. The average high for this weekend in the Twin Cities is 33°, the record high for this Saturday is 54°, and if El Nino gets his way, then this weekend could be record breaking. To put it in a little perspective, that record high of 54° set back 1896, is our average high for the second week in April.

THE BIG RIDGE

The big ridge is not the title of a old black and white western, but instead its what is going on out in the Western United Sates. This ridge of high pressure is building far north into parts of Western Canada and Alaska. That is the warm side of things.

I'm sure you have heard the saying that what goes up must come down. Its just like a teeter-totter at your childhood playground, while one end is up, the other end is down. This down side is the now being felt across the Eastern part of the country where the cold air is filling in from Canada.

As we get close to this weekend, look for that ridge to move closer and closer to Minnesota and as a result, bring the warm air along. An area of low pressure that will move well north of us, will help in that warm air transport. 

More good news on this warm up is that we will enjoy it with a little more sunshine this time around as the storm track is well north of the Upper Midwest. 

In case you were wondering, the last time the metro saw 50° was back on the day before Thanksgiving, November 25, 2015, when the metro recorded a high of 51°.