Periods of Sunday snow; drier week ahead

Our Saturday high temp of 32 degrees at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport set a new Twin Cities record for Oct. 24 chilliness:

“Today” in the NWS tweet refers to Saturday.

In case you’re wondering, the record coldest Twin Cities high temperature for Oct. 25 is 30 degrees. We may top out slightly above 30 degrees Sunday afternoon. That’s cold…our average Twin Cities high temp this time of year is 54 degrees. Sunday highs will range from the upper 20s to lower 30s across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Sunday snow

Periods of snow will continue this Sunday across roughly the southern third of Minnesota and on into Wisconsin. The snow is expected to taper off from west to east during the evening hours. Patchy light snow showers are possible in central and northern Minnesota. Areas near the southern edge of Lake Mille Lacs could see some enhanced lake-effect snow bands this afternoon:

Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN 435 AM CDT Sun Oct 25 2020 MNZ044-045-251800- Mille Lacs-Kanabec- Including the cities of Princeton and Mora 435 AM CDT Sun Oct 25 2020 ...LAKE EFFECT SNOW POSSIBLE NEAR LAKE MILLE LACS TODAY AND EARLY THIS EVENING... Nearly stationary snow showers are likely to develop this morning on the southwest end of Lake Mille Lacs then shift eastward slowly through the afternoon and evening. Highly localized heavy snow is possible at times and rapid reductions in visibility should be anticipated in very short distances on U.S. Highway 169, Minnesota 47, and Minnesota 27. Several inches are possible if the band of snow remains stationary for a period of a few hours.

How much snow?

A few snow reports from Saturday night and Sunday morning have arrived, including a tally of 3 inches near Ivanhoe in southwestern Minnesota. Other snow reports include 2 inches at Tracy and Worthington and 1.5 inches in New Ulm.

You can see snow reports as they are updated by the NWS here. Hover over any snow report on the NWS map for details on the exact location and time of the snow measurement. Here’s how the snow map looked Sunday morning:

Additional snow this Sunday/early Sunday evening could reach 2 inches or more in far southern Minnesota:

I’m expecting less than one inch of additional snow across most of the Twin Cities metro area, but the far southern parts of Dakota and Scott counties could see a little more than one inch.

A winter weather advisory continues today in southwestern Minnesota plus Martin county of south-central Minnesota, ending at 1 a.m. Monday:

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

Updates on Minnesota road conditions can be found here.

Temperature trends:

Monday will be another cold day, with highs in the 20s in many locations:

Some spots in the Twin Cities metro area could reach 30, but that would still be a new record cold high temp for Oct. 26.

Low temperatures late Monday night and early Tuesday morning may reach the lower teens in the metro area, with some single-digit lows possible in parts of Minnesota:

Our record Twin Cities low temp for Oct. 27 is 13 degrees.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 30s Tuesday, then around 40 Wednesday and Thursday, followed by middle 40s on Friday. The metro area could reach the lower 50s next Saturday, which is Halloween. Forecast models are not showing any big storm systems in the coming week.

The new temperature outlook from the NWS Climate Prediction Center is encouraging, showing a tendency toward above-normal temps for the first week in November:

That would be a nice break from this wintry weather!

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.