Feels like December; temps recover a bit by Saturday

The temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport dipped to 15 degrees Thursday morning. That’s our average Twin Cities low temp on Dec. 7!

There were many single-digit readings Thursday morning across areas of southern Minnesota that have fresh snow cover.

A few spots in southern Minnesota, including Owatonna and Waseca, dipped below zero for awhile. Snow reports for the region can be found here. Adjust the slider on the upper left of that page to get reports for the past 48 hours or 72 hours.

Here’s the snow map from the Tuesday and Wednesday snow event:

The snow total was four-tenths of an inch Tuesday night into early Wednesday at MSP airport.

Temperature trends

Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have highs in the 20s this Thursday. That’s cold. Our average high this time of year is 46 degrees in the Twin Cities.

There’ll be a lot of highs in the 30s on Friday, with some lower 40s in southwestern Minnesota:

Many areas top out in the 40s on Saturday, with 30s to the north:

Sunday will be cold and windy, with many highs in the 20s:

We could touch 30 early Sunday in the metro, with temps falling through the 20s much of the day.

Twin Cities metro area highs may only reach the upper teens on Monday, followed by lower 20s Tuesday and mid-20s on Wednesday.

Weekend rain and snow chances for some areas

Northern and central Minnesota, plus northwestern Wisconsin, could see some rain showers and snow showers at times on Saturday and Saturday night.

The Twin Cities metro area will have a chance of scattered rain showers Saturday afternoon and evening, with a rain/snow shower chance Saturday night.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Saturday and Saturday evening:

Scattered light snow showers are possible in Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Sunday.

Listen for updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Crop report

The Minnesota Crop Progress & Condition report for the week ending Sunday, Nov. 3, states:

Drier conditions finally prevailed throughout all of Minnesota leading to 5.7 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending November 3, 2019, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Field activities for the week mostly consisted of harvesting crops, but there were limited reports of some fall tillage and manure spreading. The crops coming out of fields are often reported as wetter than usual for this time of year, with many producers looking to dry their crop.

Later in the report, which is issued by the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Statistics Service in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the following summary is given:

Corn harvested for grain reached 44 percent, 11 days behind the average. Corn moisture content of grain at harvest averaged 22 percent, down 3 percent from the previous week. Corn harvested for silage reached 97 percent this week, 16 days behind normal.

Corn condition was rated 56 percent good to excellent, a slight improvement from the previous week. Eighty percent of the soybean crop has been harvested, 8 days behind last year and 2 weeks behind average.

This chart shows how far behind the five-year average the 2019 harvest is running:

Winter Weather Awareness Week

This is Winter Weather Awareness week in Minnesota and Wisconsin:

More information about Winter Weather Awareness Week and Winter Hazard Awareness Week can be found here.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.