Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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The sky is looking a bit strange this morning in the Twin Cities:

Ice particles in the air may be combining with a bit of smoke (aloft) from Colorado wildfires to bring us the interesting hues. Here’s a mention of the morning sky by the National Weather Service, along with the mid-morning radar loop:

The Twin Cities metro area will see a mix of sleet, rain showers, drizzle and snowflakes this Thursday afternoon and evening. A bit of thunder and spotty light freezing drizzle is also possible. Heavy snow will continue to fall in parts of central and northern Minnesota:

The pink-shaded area from west-central Minnesota up to Duluth will see the most snow, and that area is in a winter storm warning. The blue-shaded counties are in winter weather advisories this Thursday afternoon and evening.

Here are details of the Brainerd and Duluth portion of the winter storm warning:

There’s already been a report of 5 inches of new snow in Alexandria, Minn.

You can hear updated weather information on the MPR 

, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News 

Forecast models show a batch of snow spreading across central and southern Minnesota plus western Wisconsin as we go through Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. The snow lingers through much of Sunday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon:

We can give detailed snow totals as we get closer to the weekend, but at this point I’d say that  most areas that see weekend snow will receive enough snow to shovel.

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 54 degrees on Oct. 24. The metro area will probably top out in the lower 30s this Saturday. Highs will range from the 20s in western Minnesota to 30s in eastern Minnesota on Saturday: 

High temps on Sunday will also be very cold, with lower 30s again in the metro area:

Forecasters are still searching for milder temps!

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. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

We have an update on the heavy snow in parts of central and northern Minnesota and the wintry mix in the Twin Cities metro area. We also look at the snow that’s in our weekend forecast. 

A person rides a bike on a snowy bike path. 

Weekend forecast: More snow Saturday afternoon into Sunday

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