Chilly Sunday; accumulating snow on Tuesday

Much of northern Minnesota saw accumulating snow on Saturday. Most Minnesotans and western Wisconsin residents can expect some snow accumulations on Tuesday. More on that in a moment.

Chilly Sunday

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 57 degrees on Oct. 18, but the metro area may top out in the lower 40s this Sunday. Highs in the 30s are expected this afternoon in roughly the northern half of Minnesota, with mainly lower 40s in the south:

Sunday afternoon winds could gust from 15 to 20 mph:

Plotted values are in knots, with 14 knots equal to around 16 mph. Gusts over 22 mph are possible Sunday afternoon in northwestern Minnesota.

Temperature trends

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 40s Monday, then around 40 Tuesday, followed by mid 40s Wednesday and Thursday and lower 40s on Friday.

No big warmup is in sight. It looks like chilly temps will linger into next weekend and through the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center temperature outlook for Oct. 25 through Oct. 31 shows a strong tendency for below-normal temperatures in Minnesota and Wisconsin:

Tuesday snow

So, what about that Tuesday snow? I’ll start by saying that forecast models may change as we get closer to Tuesday. As of now, it looks like most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will see accumulating snow Tuesday into Tuesday evening.

The NWS forecast snow amounts through 7 p.m. Tuesday look like this:

Some forecast models show lower amounts, some models show higher amounts.

The Twin Cities office of the NWS generated the following odds of 2 and 4 inch snow amounts by 7 p.m. Tuesday for locations in their forecast area:

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

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.