Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Mild Sunday temps; Nor'easter hits New England

No really cold temps in sight

It was a beautiful Saturday in the Twin Cities, with plenty of sunshine and a high of 40 degrees. That’s well above our average Dec. 5 high of 30 in the Twin Cities.

We’re shooting for a high in the upper 30s in the metro area on Sunday. There will be a lot of 30s in Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Sunday, but parts of west-central and southwestern Minnesota will top out in the 40s:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Winds will be light in most areas, with gusts of 10 mph or less:

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Sunday noon forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

Plotted values are in knots, with 6 knots equal to about 7 mph. Far western Minnesota could see some gusts of 10-15 mph by afternoon.

Flake chances?

Parts of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin could see a few light snow showers Saturday evening. There might also be a few sprinkles mixed with the flakes at times.

Most of Sunday looks dry, but there is a chance of scattered flurries or sprinkles in western Wisconsin Sunday afternoon.

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

Nor’easter update

A classic Nor’easter is bringing heavy snow and strong winds to parts of New England this weekend.

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

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Simulated radar Saturday evening through Sunday morning
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Some areas have already seen several inches of snow. Here are forecast weekend snow totals, from the NWS:

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Weekend snow forecast
National Weather Service

Double-digit totals are expected across much of Maine:

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Weekend snow forecast
National Weather Service

Temperature trends

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach about 40 on Monday, followed by mid 40s Tuesday and around 50 on Wednesday. We could reach the lower 40s Thursday, then upper 30s on Friday.

Mild temps may linger into next weekend and the start of the following week. The temperature outlook for Dec. 11 through Dec. 15 from the NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for above-normal temps in Minnesota and western Wisconsin:

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Temperature outlook Dec. 11 through Dec. 15
NWS Climate Prediction Center

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.