Nice opening, wagga!

Our temps are off to the races this week, with a record high of 87F/31C expected today (average is 55F/12C). And we still have piles of snow on the ground! (Mostly those from parking lots and other plowed areas; the yard is almost free of snow).

But in true Minnesota fashion, snow flurries are possible this weekend.

Indeed, nice Intro, wagga, thanks! 

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

We'll have to take it all in our stride.

Truly! And thanks for the update on the weather in your corner of the world.  

87° today, stargazer! Except, we are not much lower at 26C / 80F.   I think this must set some kind of record for this day in April. It's like late June or July out there! But thankfully without the humidity. With significant relief, the temperature should be heading right back to seasonal early next week, moving from 24C / 72F on Sunday, with rain, to 8C / 46F on Monday with more rain. Then normal temps for this time of year for awhile after that, whew! Now, that's more like it! Good grief, this current week is far too warm. Yes, wagga, April rains are beautiful here.  

My early morning walk today was stunning, although a bit too warm-ish for my liking, sitting around 10C / 50F. I prefer it 10-15 degrees cooler for my long, brisk walk (with a few jogs tucked in there ). But the mass of altocumulus clouds in the dawn's early light, peaked by the rising of the sun at 6:46, was glorious! Red, pink, grey. I took many photos.  

It sounds like you are in for a very hot summer, in North America. But what about UK, on the other side of the pond? Though Easter was much as I expected, it is quite warm, at the moment, which is 6.34 pm of Saturday night. I guess it would be cooler in New Zealand than it is here. And to make the New Zealanders feel really good, the Warriors (Auckland) won their NRL game against the Northern Queensland Cowboys. 

@waggawerewolf27 As for the UK, it's variable as ever over here. Sometimes quite mild (as in, the temperature gets up to 14 C or so, which would be a cold winter's day in Melbourne), then it gets cold again overnight, and sometimes it's really sunny and sometimes it's totally overcast and then it rains a lot. This morning was misty. In other words, it's... Britain!!  (And I have no idea what it might be like come summer.)

So eager for next week to be more seasonal temperatures here. Cool, with some rain; other days a mixture of sun/cloud. And very cool at night, especially Sunday and Monday nights, as around freezing. Back to grrreat walking weather!  

Records were set here four days this past week, from what I understand. I only heard specifically about Friday's, when the temperature was a bit lower than the other days—'only' 25C / 77F, rather than in the higher 20sC. The previous record for that day, April 14, was back in 1938, and was recorded at 23.9°C / 75F.

I am really relieved to have this April heat wave behind us, and look forward to more cloud and coolness this week, along with some lovely spring rains!  

And now I hear tomorrow will be 26C / nearly 79F, while Monday is plummeting to 6C / nearly 43F!   

Posted by:

In other words, it's... Britain!!  (And I have no idea what it might be like come summer.)

In 2018 the summer suddenly arrived in the North on May Day Bank Holiday, after a long winter and cold spring. THe sun shone strongly all 3 days of the weekend. 

Goodick

@ Courtenay: And I have no idea what it might be like come summer.

I have memories of leaving Australia in June of 1997, to go to UK with my Scottish-born husband. "You won't need a jacket", said he. "It is summer, there". I'd never go there again without a jacket, whether it is summer or not. I froze.🥶 

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

@ Courtenay: And I have no idea what it might be like come summer.

I have memories of leaving Australia in June of 1997, to go to UK with my Scottish-born husband. "You won't need a jacket", said he. "It is summer, there". I'd never go there again without a jacket, whether it is summer or not. I froze.🥶 

And yet for a couple of days last summer, even here in northern England, it got up to 40 C!!! (That really was TOO hot, even for someone who grew up in Australia. I don't miss that kind of weather at all.)

Mind you, you're reminding me of my first year over here, when I decided to go up to Scotland for a holiday when I had some time off work. I was there for 9 days and it rained almost constantly for 8 of them. This was in July.   (Beautiful country, though — what I could see of it through the rain and the fog, at least.)

@Courtenay: Mind you, you're reminding me of my first year over here, when I decided to go up to Scotland for a holiday when I had some time off work. I was there for 9 days and it rained almost constantly for 8 of them. This was in July. (Beautiful country, though — what I could see of it through the rain and the fog, at least.)

That three weeks in 1997 that I spent in UK included time in Scotland, not only Falkirk, Fort William, Loch Lomond, the Isle of Mull but Edinburgh as well. When the weather then was as wet as what you are saying was the case, in your first year, my allegedly homesick husband lost his temper with "Auld Reekie", when his umbrella blew inside out. "Who would want to live in this place?" he cried, & he was getting really upset, poor man.  And when I heard him say such things, I couldn't stop laughing inside, after hearing for something like 26 years what a marvellous place Scotland was, the home of his childhood. The Scottish soldier in Tyrol, warbling on, to bagpipe music, had nothing on my hubby. So bracing he'd say, on an icy cold winter's morning here, so like his beloved Scotland . And when the sun finally came out, the day before I went home to Australia, I had to admit it was really nice there, the day before I had to go back to Australia, when we picnicked on the Antonine Wall, which he had not noticed so much when he lived there, himself. We went there again in 2009, when we went up as far as the Orkneys, plus 10 days in 2012, & found the weather more reasonable on those two occasions.

40C isn't so bad, really, though it is still unpleasant, especially in England, I'd imagine. On the 8th of January, 2020, we had temperatures up to 49.7C in Penrith. That was Penrith, NSW, on the day, the hottest place in the world, not Oodnadatta, Wilcannia, or Marble Bar, in W.A. That was during those bushfires, which made the place feel like Dante's Inferno, with a burning red sun, as disastrous-looking as the sun in Charn, in the Magicians' Nephew. I hope never to experience such temperatures again, as they were really too much to endure.

Mid-Autumn  and we're getting mixed weather. Gusty winds and warm temperatures coaxed me out to peg washing in the sunshine, and to do some overdue weeding in the garden. It's nice for families as it's school holidays for another week.

Mixed weather here as well. After last week's record-breaking heat, we had a cold rain on Saturday that transitioned into several inches of snow that is still on the ground. But it's melting as our current temperature is now 40F/4C, and the grass that is showing is a vibrant green (the grass here tends to be brown in spring until the first rain and warmth allows it to start growing again).

And with it, the trees are busy making pollen for my allergies.

About an hour east of here, in western Wisconsin, some towns got 22 inches (560mm) of fresh snow this weekend, making travel a bit messy on Interstate 94.

Spring is such a mixture, to be sure. Snow some days; warm temps, others. In fact, this morning we had a beautiful, fresh frost all around. Everything was so pretty and crisp when I was out for my walk. -3C / 26.6F with a bit of a windchill added on to that. I am getting to the point where, even if I leave at just after 5:30 a.m. to walk, the night sky is starting to fade. Oooh, how I miss walking under a dark sky! Anyway, that will come again.

In the meantime, the dawn was pretty with some clouds, then giving way to a clear sky with sun all day today, and rising to 14C / 57F, 'though not until 6 pm tonight, and then only very briefly. Tonight is dropping to mid-single digits. We except a lot of rain over the next week, starting tomorrow. I want to plant potatoes soon, but will need to wait until the ground dries up some. It is soaking now, what with the melted snow and all the rain we have had.

The grass sure is a striking, deep green, and tiny leaves are beginning to be visible on the many trees.

Posted by: @jo

We expect a lot of rain over the next week, starting tomorrow. I want to plant potatoes soon, but will need to wait until the ground dries up some. It is soaking now, what with the melted snow and all the rain we have had.

Yes, we have been getting quite a bit of rain, but it has started to ease off. The rain was quite heavy, including inland at Bathurst. The leaves of some of the trees that aren't Australian native flora, have been changing colour from yellow and orange to a deep red. And it can be chilly in the morning, & about to get cooler, when it is winter in June. According to the old Celtic calendar, today (April 30th) was once called Beltane, or was it tomorrow, May 1st? So, the Northern Hemisphere is halfway to Midsummer. 

May 1 is indeed Beltane, the old cross-quarter day halfway between spring and summer. Considering it the start of summer helps to make sense of calling the June solstice midsummer, when in modern convention summer starts then.

If indeed summer starts now, the local weather hasn't received the memo. Several inches of snow fell overnight north of here, and our temperatures continue to run well below normal. But warmth is forecast to return in a few days, with highs over average (now about 60F/16C).

It's been extremely windy the past few days, courtesy of that same large low-pressure area that brought the snow and storms east of here. Its counter-clockwise rotation means we're still getting chilly Arctic air. Red-flag warnings (burning prohibition) are out for northwest Minnesota and are expected to include the rest of the state tomorrow (despite recent rain the humidity is low and the grass is not entirely green yet, increasing wildfire risk).