Prior Lake, Minnesota 7 Day Weather Forecast

Wx Forecast - Wx Discussion - Wx Aviation

795
FXUS63 KMPX 051112
AFDMPX

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN
612 AM CDT Sun Apr 5 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Light rain showers and mostly cloudy today.

- Cooler for the next few days with warmer temperatures towards
  the 2nd half of the week. Further rain chances arrive with
  the warmup.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 251 AM CDT Sun Apr 5 2026

The lingering occluded upper level low continues to spin over the
northern Great Lakes, which will continue to give us sporadic cloud
cover this morning and some wrap around rain showers later this
afternoon. The lower level stratus continues to retreat to the
southeast swirling around the surface low, with some mid to higher
level cloud cover in central Minnesota struggling to become more
widespread amidst the leading edge of subsidence stemming from an
incoming Canadian high pressure center. The area between the
departing system and approaching high pressure will produce just
enough omega to force a few isolated rain showers this afternoon,
with accumulations very light on the order of a tenth of an inch at
most at any single location. By this evening, the upper level
occlusion will have moved towards eastern Canada with northwesterly
flow at all levels of the troposphere resulting in cooling
temperatures across the area as the surface high rides the
northwesterly flow towards the area. Temperatures in the mid to
upper 40s for highs today will drop below freezing tonight, with
lows in the upper teens in areas that saw more snowfall from our
previous event in central Minnesota and up to the upper 20s in
southern Minnesota. Highs will struggle to get out of the 30s on
Monday despite sunny skies thanks to brisk northwesterly winds and
the surface high moving closer to the area. 850mb temps on the order
of -5 to -10C will ensure that even with full sunshine and mixing we
are only going to be bringing further cold air to the surface, so
even with the strengthening April sun angle it`ll be a brisk day on
Monday. With the center of the surface high moving through Tuesday
morning, our coldest morning of the week and possibly our last time
in the teens until next winter will occur Tuesday morning with lows
in the mid to upper teens.

A rapid warm up is then expected over the 24 hours from sunrise
Tuesday to sunrise Wednesday and flow switches out of the southwest
ahead of a developing weather system over the northern Rockies,
with a surface low forming on the lee side by early Wednesday. This
surface low will produce a broad warm frontal baroclinic zone along
its eastern flank, with a classic southwestern trough/eastern ridge
setup resulting in access to not only warmer temperatures but also
Gulf moisture by later in the day and into the rest of the week.
Temperatures may cool down a bit again on Thursday into Friday as an
upper level occlusion rides the northern jet stream across the area
which brings a cold front from the aforementioned surface low,
however we should not be as cold as earlier in the week with lows in
the mid to upper 30s. This western trough/eastern ridge will be the
key synoptic scale features to watch as we approach next weekend,
with the multitude of ensemble guidance including the
AIFS/ECMWF/GEFS all showing majority of membership with widespread
precipitation from late Friday through most of Saturday. The exact
placement of the synoptic scale features will be essential in
diagnosing not only how much rainfall but also the potential for
severe weather, and while the ensemble consensus is for
precipitation, the actual placement of the surface low is still up
in the air. For now, expect to see some wet weather towards the
latter part of the week and next weekend, with some warmer
temperatures as well.

&&

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z MONDAY/...
Issued at 608 AM CDT Sun Apr 5 2026

SKC prevalent across the area this morning with a few high
clouds moving into eastern MN/western WI, affecting primarily
RNH/EAU over the first few hours of the period. Cloud cover is
expected to fill in to at least SCT by the late morning, with
periods of BKN low VFR/high MVFR cigs after 18z with some
isolated -SHRA after 18z as well. Generally, coverage should be
limited enough to stay away from a TEMPO, with the short-
duration showers lasting less than an hour at any one spot.
Winds will remain 280-320 with speeds increasing to 10-13kts
gusting up to 25kts from 18-00z.

KMSP...Re-added the prob30 group for -SHRA as CAMs have remained
bullish on keeping chances persistent during the afternoon.
Satellite trends will need to be monitored today as our lack of
cloud cover right now is not being handled very well by the same
models producing the -SHRA later today.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/
MON...VFR. Wind NW 10-15kts.
TUE...VFR. Wind SE 5-10kts.
WED...MVFR/-SHRA likely, IFR possible. Wind SE to SW
10-15G25kts.

&&

.MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MN...None.
WI...None.

&&

$$

DISCUSSION...TDH
AVIATION...TDH