Rochester, MN Could Break 100-Year-Old Heat Record This Weekend

Less than a week after a late-season blizzard dumped over a foot of snow on our neck of the woods, now record warm temperatures have put Rochester and much of southeast Minnesota directly in their bullseye.

In fact, forecasters say Minnesota's Med City may be on track for one of the warmest first weekends of spring EVER, and we could now break a record that dates back well over 100 years!

From Blizzard to 77 Degrees: Rochester’s Wild Weather Swing

As we know, living in Minnesota means that if you don't like the current weather, wait five minutes and it'll change, right? And that's sure been the case so far this winter. We've already seen more snowstorms this winter than we did the past few years, along with a brutal 10-day cold snap that sent temperatures to double-digits below zero.

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Then of course, we had a February thaw over the Valentine's Day weekend, with temperatures that hit 50 degrees on February 14th and remained in the upper 40s for much of the next few days.

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How This Weekend Could Rank Among Rochester’s Warmest Starts to Spring

As we head into spring, warmer-than-usual temperatures aren't necessarily unheard of here in Rochester, of course. Check out how warm it was on these first weekends of spring (around March 20th), according to RecordTemps:

• 77 degrees in March 2012
• Mid 70s in March 1939
• 1910 82 degrees on March 24th
• 72 degrees in March 2000
• 68 degrees in 1976 on March 19th

Considering that the National Weather Service says that our average high temperature on the first weekend of Spring in Rochester is between 42 and 45 degrees, those high temperatures stand out as being quite a bit warmer.

Rochester Forecast: Record High Could Fall Saturday

And this year, we could add some warmer temps to that table, and maybe even break a record. According to the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service (NWS) office in La Crosse, WI, Rochester is set to hit a high temperature of 77 degrees on Saturday, March 21st, 2026. If we get that warm, it would break the previous record high of 70 degrees, which was set way back in 1918!

The forecast for Sunday, March 22nd, is a little more seasonal, though still above average, with high temperatures expected to top out near 50 degrees, a trend that looks to continue through much of the next week, as well.