Meteorologist Corey Harguth

03/27/2025

It is incredibly mild across the southern half of Minnesota on Thursday morning with temperatures as of 6 a.m. hanging out in the lower 40s with very light winds putting a slight wind chill on parts of the region. It is cooler in Northern Minnesota this morning where temperatures have fallen into the 20s, but overall everyone should warm up into the 50s and 60s for highs by this afternoon with winds gusting up to 20 mph, mostly in the western half of the state.

We will be even more mild tonight with some areas only falling into the upper 40s which for perspective is roughly where we should be for daytime highs at the end of March which is going to allow us, with the help of a strong warm front, to see some widespread 80s for highs on Friday in Southern Minnesota and lower to middle 50s in the northern third of the state.

That warmth is not going to stick around long as cooler air filters with our next weather maker for the weekend that is going to drop temperatures as much as 40s degrees in some areas by Saturday getting highs closer to normal. Then there is the potential for some more winter weather as well with forecast models not really giving a clear picture this morning as far as what to expect. Most have accumulating snow possible throughout Southern Minnesota by Sunday, but the amounts are kind of all over the place because they are not agreeing on the exact track of the low pressure system, so I think it would be irresponsible to be talking too much about potential snow totals at this point.

03/26/2025

It is another fairly quiet morning across Southern Minnesota for this Wednesday and for the most part I think we are going to stay that way for the rest of today and tomorrow with the exception being a light shower or two popping up in Southwestern Minnesota by late afternoon, but most of that activity is expected to stay in Iowa at this point.

Temperatures are going to be on the increase as we enter into the second half of the week as well with highs today in the middle and upper 50s before we hit the 60s for Thursday with all signs then pointing at widespread 70s and maybe some lower 80s by the time we get to Friday. Now that warmth is not going to stick around for long as the next weather maker moves through the center of the country bringing daytime highs back down to the lower to middle 40s through the weekend.

That system will also likely bring some much needed moisture to much of Minnesota with the southern portion of the state, based on forecast models this morning, still looking to stay on the warmer side meaning we will likely see rain, but the southwest corner would have the best chance of changing over to snow by Sunday morning. Keep in mind we are still several days out from this low moving in and can and likely will change. In fact other forecast models are stretching the wintry weather further east for the end of the weekend, so there are still plenty of unknowns here and this discussion is simply meant to put this system in the back of your mind.

03/25/2025

Hopefully some of you can join us tomorrow at South Central College.

03/24/2025

We have a little bit of a chill in the air to get us started for this Monday morning. Temperatures across much of Southern Minnesota are sitting in the lower to middle 20s, but winds out of the northwest at 5-15 mph, are making us feel like we in the teens so take that into account before sending the kids out to the bus stop this morning.

We should warm up to be anywhere from five to ten degrees above normal for this afternoon with far less wind than we saw on Sunday when many locations were gusting to around 40 mph. Highs are expected to climb into the upper 40s in Southeastern Minnesota while areas off to the west are looking more like the lower to middle 50s.

Rain chances will move in for Southwestern Minnesota tonight and push east into our Tuesday with some areas seeing a mix with some snow as we cool down into the lower 30s overnight. Tuesday will be similar to today temperature-wise before we start a bit of warm-up for the second half of the week. Highs by Wednesday will range from the lower to middle 50s with 60s and maybe even some 70s possible by the end of the week before we start to cool down and bring in additional chances for rainfall for the weekend.

03/22/2025

This was such a cool experience getting to do an interview with NASA while in Denver earlier this month for Commodity Classic.

Commodity Classic is one of the nation's largest agricultural events, including a large trade show with hundreds of exhibitors. Some of the exhibitors may not be what you'd expect to see at a farm show. Corey Harguth caught up with one of those unexpected participants.

03/21/2025

We have a bit of a chill to start our Finally Friday despite temperatures this morning being in the upper 30s and lower 40 . Winds are out of the south and west at 5-15 mph bringing feels like temperatures from the upper 20s to middle 30s.

We will climb into the 50s across the board to end the work week, but there will a chance for a light rain shower or two as we go into the afternoon with totals expected to be fairly minimal with amounts through Sunday morning at most hitting a couple of tenths of an inch.

Skies will clear out for tonight allowing cooler overnight temperatures as much of South Central and Southeast Minnesota fall into the upper teens while further west we stay in the lower 20s overnight.

The weekend will have some temperature fluctuations as we fall in a bit for Sunday, but then we will see a little bit of moderation going into next week with temperatures ranging from lower 50s to the lower 60s throughout the week.

03/20/2025

As expected, snow totals were all over the place for parts of Southern Minnesota yesterday, with many locations seeing almost nothing actually sticking to the ground.

The highest totals as of this morning were along and near Interstate 90 including Bricelyn picking up 9.5" and Austin reporting 7.0". Rochester picked up 5.5" while Lemond ended up to 3.0". Further to the west, Jackson only ended up with 0.4" of snow, but the winds were causing a lot of issues the further south one went with multiple reports of blizzard conditions reported and a number of crashes.

If anyone was following radar throughout the day, it looked like the Highway14 corridor should have been picking up some heavy snow, but it looked like there was a layer of dry air that kept that snow high up in the atmosphere from making it to the surface.

Looking ahead, we will see a couple of chances of rain going into and through the weekend, but temperatures in South Central and Southeast Minnesota are going to top out in the 40s for the next several days with much of Southwest Minnesota getting back into the 50s meaning a lot of the snow that did manage to stick to the ground will be gone very quickly.

03/19/2025

The track for our late season winter storm has continued to push itself to the south overnight meaning much of Southern Minnesota is going to see less of an impact than originally thought.

As of this morning, the heaviest snow totals look to set up along Interstate 90 from Albert Lea to Austin to Rochester where 5-10+ inches will still be possible. Lesser amounts of 1-5 inches will then be possible along and near Highway 14 which is right on the northern edge where a sharp cutoff is also expected so while one location in that area may see several inches of snow, the town over may see significantly less.

Timing has also been pushed back a bit with snow now moving in more from the south-southwest by mid to late morning and then exiting later this afternoon.

Due to these changes in the forecast, the weather headlines have also been updated to include Waseca and Jackson Counties being dropped from the Blizzard Warning and put into a Winter Weather Advisory. Nobles County has also been moved to a Wind Advisory through the afternoon.

Once the snow ends, we will keep the winds around as gusts reach up to 35 mph tonight before calming down an bit for Thursday. Sunshine will also return for the first day of Spring with highs in the upper 30s meaning any snow that falls today will begin to melt right away before we get into a chance of rain on Friday afternoon and again on Sunday.

03/18/2025

There have been a number of changes to the forecast for the incoming winter storm with the new model runs this afternoon which includes a slight shift to the south for the track meaning the sharp cutoff that is expected on the northern edge is also moving in that direction.

That being said, the National Weather Service has also updated its headlines to account for this shift. The Blizzard Warning in South Central Minnesota has been trimmed back to the south with Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Goodhue, Le Sueur, Nicollet, Nobles, Rice and Watonwan Counties all be moved to a Winter Weather Advisory. The Blizzard warning did expand to the southeast however with Dodge, Mower, Olmsted and Wabasha Counties getting added. The far southwestern corner of the state has also been removed from winter weather headlines with a Wind Advisory now in place for Wednesday.

As far as timing, not much has changed as snow looks to move in early Wednesday morning and come to an end in the afternoon with winds also gusting up to 45+mph within the Blizzard Warning.

03/18/2025

We are starting out on the quiet side for this Tuesday morning with temperatures generally in the 30s across much of the southern half of Minnesota, but we are going to see some changes as we approach mid-week with yet another strong winter weather system still looking to impact parts of the region.

The Winter Storm Watch that was mentioned yesterday has been replaced with a BLIZZARD WARNING in South Central with Winter Weather Advisories now in place for Southwest Minnesota. The Winter Storm Watch remains in place in the Southeastern corner of the state for now.

As far as timing goes, the system is expected to move in from the west Wednesday morning and then tracking to the east throughout the day before exiting in the evening hours. The timing graphics below show the rough times when the heaviest impacts are expected across South Central Minnesota.

Overall, potential snow totals remain highly variable because of two big factors. 1) The track of the storm will likely continue to shift meaning the location of the heaviest band of snow will as well. 2) Many areas are going to start out warm enough to see at least a bit of rain/snow mix and depending on how long it takes to make the transition to all snow will greatly determine those final totals. Overall I think a band of 4-8 inches will be common across South Central Minnesota with locally higher amounts closer to a foot definitely possible.

Winds, of course, are only going to complicate the matter even more as we look for gusts up to 40 mph which will greatly affect visibility and travel going through the day on Wednesday and even into the evening commute.

Once this system works its out, we are going to back to feeling a bit more like Spring (which makes sense considering the new season officially begins on Thursday). Highs by Thursday will jump back into the 40s allowing the melting process to begin right away with temperatures back into the 50s looking likely by Friday.

03/17/2025

We have a bit of breeze to go along with our otherwise mild temperatures to start our Monday. We are sitting in the 30s across Southern Minnesota, but with wind gusts between 30 and 35 mph, we feel like we are in the middle 20s in most cases.

We are going to keep the wind around throughout the day today as highs climb into the middle 60s for most locations, but we have some more changes on the way especially as we move into mid-week where portions of South Central and Southeast Minnesota will once again be the target zone for yet another winter system.

Right now, it looks like we will start as a rain/snow mix for Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning before changing over to all snow and exiting through the evening hours likely having an impact on the evening commute which has led to a Winter Storm Watch being issued for Jackson to Fillmore Counties, Blue Earth to Winona Counties and Le Sueur to Wabasha Counties.

A lot can and likely will change before this system actually gets here, but potential totals as of this morning range greatly from 2-10 inches mostly between Highway 14 and Interstate 90 in South Central and Southeast Minnesota.

We will talk more details this morning on The Morning Blend on KTOE 1420, Minnesota 100, KOWZ 100.9 FM, KRUE Country 92, The Greatest Hits 99.7 KARZ and KMHL 1400AM/101.7FM.

03/15/2025

The overall severe weather from Friday night ended up fairly tame across Southern Minnesota with one severe wind report of 58 mph coming from the Fairmont area. There are several reports of winds between 40 and 55 mph as well.

The focus for severe weather now shifts to the Deep South where forecasters are expecting a major severe weather outbreak today with a Level 5 High Risk already in place for parts of Mississippi and Alabama.

Back at home, we are going to see temperatures beginning to tumble backwards as we go through our Saturday with rain attempting to turn to snow, but it looks like it most likely not accumulate much or at all for locations east of line from Mankato to the Twin Cities. Further west though, several inches are going to be possible with the heaviest snow expected in the Alexandria area where as much as 6-8 inches could fall. We are going to pair the snow with very strong winds that are going to gust up to around 40 mph across much of Minnesota while western locations see gusts north of 50 mph which is why we do have some Blizzard Warnings in place through the afternoon hours.

We will quiet things down going into the second half of the weekend with temperatures staying right around or just below average, but there are indications that another winter storm system could build in by the middle of next week. We will talk more details on that as it gets a little bit clearer.

03/15/2025

The Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Blue Earth, Freeborn, Steele and Waseca Counties has been CANCELLED

03/15/2025

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING is in effect until 9:15 p.m. for Mower County

03/15/2025

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING is in effect until 8:30 p.m. for Blue Earth County

03/15/2025

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING is in effect until 8:15 p.m. for Blue Earth County

03/14/2025

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH is in effect until 1 a.m. for Blue Earth, Dodge, Freeborn, Steele and Waseca Counties

03/14/2025

Not that there was any doubt but....

As of 3 p.m. temperatures have soared to nearly 35 degrees above average with temperatures in the lower to middle 70s across Southern Minnesota. We also have some records that have been broken and others that likely will be in the next hour or two.

Canby: 74- Previous record 73 (2012)
Fairmont: 74- Previous record 72 (2024)
Owatonna: 74- Previous record 69 (2024)
Albert Lea: 73- Previous record 70 (2024)
Austin: 73- Previous record 67 (2024)
Faribault: 73- Previous record 67 (1911)
Mankato: 73- Previous record 68 (2024)
Marshall: 73- Tie (2012)
New Ulm: 73- Previous record 68 (2012)
Redwood Falls: 73- Previous record 70 (1935)
Waseca: 72- Previous record 70 (2024)
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All of this is going to change as we work into tonight with there still being a risk of strong to severe storms through the evening in South Central and Southeast Minnesota with damaging winds being a primary threat followed by hail, although the main focus for severe weather looks to be well off to our south.

Temperatures are also going to start to drop off as we go into Saturday morning as well which will eventually allow all of Southern Minnesota to see at least a few snow flakes with lesser accumulations the further east one goes. In Western Minnesota anywhere from 2-8 inches of snow is expected with northwest winds gusting up to 50+ mph in some locations which is why the Winter Storm Watch has been replaced with a BLIZZARD WARNING for Pipestone and Murray Counties northward.