Weekend forecast: Wet and windy Saturday, nicer Sunday

In these times of social distancing and staying at home, it helps to plan ahead a bit for our outdoor walks. Sunday will be the better weather day of the weekend in most locations.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System (GFS) model shows precipitation spinning up from the south Friday evening and continuing through Saturday evening:

At this point it looks like it will be mostly rain. If the low-pressure system is able to pull in enough cold air, we may also see some flakes on Saturday in portions of central and northeastern Minnesota.

I can’t rule out some flakes in the Twin Cities metro area at some point Saturday or Saturday night, but it’s expected to be mostly rain.

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

Saturday’s rain totals look impressive. Here’s the NWS forecast for Friday night through Saturday night rain totals:

The Twin Cities metro area could see one inch to one and a half inches of rain this weekend. Some spots in southwestern Minnesota could tally close to two inches of rain.

Temperatures and winds

Saturday highs will be mainly in the 40s, but a few spots in far southeastern Minnesota could top 50 degrees:

Saturday will be windy, with afternoon wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph in central and southern Minnesota:

Sunday highs will be mainly in the 40s in northern Minnesota, with 50s in about the southern half of Minnesota and portions of Wisconsin:

Snow depths

There’s still some snow on the ground across northern Minnesota and parts of far northern Wisconsin. Here’s the latest snow depth analysis from NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center. (NOHRSC):

Portions of northeastern Minnesota still have over 20 inches of snow on the ground.