Winter ends with near-normal temperatures

Spring seems to be here - and if not, at least the promise of spring is finally in the air after a good five months of winter.

But I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Last year, the last blizzard blasted us on April 23. Spring never seems to be a sure thing around here. Only winter is a sure thing, it seems.

What a winter we're shaking off! Some towns set snow records and others came close to the state low record. The Cotton area missed it by only four degrees.

Temperature stats for the first part of 2019 prove that cold point: March was 1.0 degree colder than normal despite a couple of nice warm spells, February was 4.5 degree colder than normal, and January was 2.6 degrees colder than normal.

April should come back up pretty close to normal, finally. It is estimated the month will average one degree warmer than normal. Rain should be around 2 inches, which is normal for this time of year.

April starts off as generally showery with occasional light showers and mild temperatures; April 7-12 could be sunny but cool; April 13-17 could be showery and cool; April 18-25 might be sunny with a warm spell; and April 26-30 could see a return to showery and cool conditions.

Right now, there are no indications of an April blizzard but, of course, nature can easily trump the best-laid plans of mice and meteorologists. Please keep an eye to the sky in case one does brew up.

I always say long-range forecasting is about as accurate as flipping a coin, but here goes for the rest of spring and beyond: May will be cooler and rainier than normal. Summer will be slightly cooler than normal, but there will be some hot spots in late June, late July, and early to mid-August.

Here is the weather forecast through Monday, April 8

Forecast for the Cloquet, Moose Lake, Proctor, Hermantown and Floodwood areas:

Friday

Mostly cloudy with 30 percent chance of morning rain-snow mix, low 32 and high near 54.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers, low 39 and high near 56.

Sunday

Mostly cloudy with 50 percent chance of showers, low 43 and high near 56.

Monday

Partly sunny with 30 percent chance of showers, low 34 and high near 54.