Weekend forecast: Back to the 40s for many areas

Weekends have been mostly dry this month

We’ll have your weekend forecast details in a moment, but first we’ll cover our Thursday weather.

Western Minnesota has the best chance of snow showers this Thursday afternoon and evening, and south-central Minnesota could also see a few evening snow showers. The Twin Cities metro area has a chance of flurries late Thursday evening.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Thursday afternoon and evening:

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Simulated radar Thursday afternoon and evening
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

The weekend

We aren’t expecting any significant rain or snow in Minnesota or western Wisconsin this weekend.

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Saturday high temperatures are projected to reach the lower 40s in much of southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro area, with mainly 30s elsewhere:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 34 degrees on Feb. 29.

Saturday afternoon wind chills will be in the 20s north and 30s south:

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Saturday 1 p.m. forecast wind chills
National Weather Service

Sunday high temps reach well into the 40s in the Twin Cities metro area and points to the south and east:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Western and far northern Minnesota will see upper 30s to lower 40s.

Sunday afternoon wind chills will be in the 30s:

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Sunday 1 p.m. forecast wind chills
National Weather Service

Snow depths

Cross-country skiers, sledders, snowboarders and snowmobilers will find the deepest snow cover over northern parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Here’s the Thursday snow depth analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:

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Thursday snow depth
NOAA/NWS

The official Twin Cities snow depth was 4 inches Thursday morning. Parts of southern Minnesota have snow depths of 8 to 12 inches. The latest snow depth report from Rochester in southeastern Minnesota indicated 8 inches of snow cover.

Many locations in north-central and northeastern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin have more than 20 inches of snow on the ground, and some spots in northeastern Minnesota show more than 30 inches.

February weekends

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has reported measurable rain or snow on only one out of eight weekend days this February.

Here are the MSP airport highs and rain/snow amounts so far this month:

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February 2020 weekend data for MSP airport
NOAA data/compiled by Ron Trenda

As you can see, we’ve seen a lot of mild weekend days this month!