Saturday highs a bit below average; some flakes southwest Minnesota

Our average high temperature is 40 degrees this time of year in the Twin Cities. We’ll be slightly cooler than that this Saturday, topping out in the upper 30s.

Highs in the 20s are expected over northern Minnesota, with 30s in central and southern Minnesota plus west-central Wisconsin:

Afternoon wind chill temps will be mainly in the 20s, with a few teens in parts of the north:

Light snow chance southwest

Accumulating snow will spread from portions of South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa today into northern Illinois. Southwestern Minnesota may see some periods of light snow today, with a few flurries possible in south-central Minnesota.

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

You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Snow depths

There’s little or no snow cover right now in the Twin Cities metro area and most of southern Minnesota. Sneaky snow remains in a small part my lawn that’s shaded from the afternoon sun.

Cross-country skiers, sledders, snowboarders and snowmobilers will be happy to hear that there’s still substantial snow cover in portions of northern Minnesota.

Here’s the latest snow depth map, courtesy of the Minnesota State Climatology Office and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:

There’s a foot or more of snow cover across most of north-central and northeastern Minnesota. Portions of Lake and Cook counties of northeastern Minnesota have snow depths of two feet or more.

An updated Updraft with details about the remainder of this weekend and the coming week will be posted by 9:30 this morning.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.