A slightly warmer, low-key week ahead
The rest of this afternoon will be partly cloudy and a bit chilly with highs in the low 20s. Tonight will be a cold one as temps drop into the single digits. The wind will be from the west at only around 5 to 15 mph, but that will be enough to put the wind chill around or just below zero through the Tuesday morning commute. Be sure to bundle up the kids when you send them out to the bus stop on Tuesday morning.
A warm front moving in from the Dakotas will cause temperatures to climb over the next couple of days. Tuesday will be partly cloudy and just slightly warmer with high temps in the upper 20s to low 30s in the Mankato/North Mankato area. Further west, especially west of US Highway 71, it will be warmer with highs reaching the upper 30s to near 40 degrees. On Wednesday, the warm air will spread across the entire region, bringing plenty of sunshine and a high near 40 degrees in Mankato. Low to mid 40s will be possible across far southwestern Minnesota.
We will remain dry with plenty of sunshine and temperatures hovering around average – which is now in the upper 30s – through the rest of the week into the weekend. As I mentioned earlier, we are watching a potential system that could bring scattered light rain or snow showers by Saturday night into Sunday. It’s still early, and as of now, that system does not look terribly impressive. But it is definitely something we will be watching throughout the week. Other than a chance of scattered light rain or snow showers, Saturday and Sunday will be partly cloudy with highs in the mid to upper 30s.