Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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This isn’t typical weather for Dec. 20. Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 26 degrees this time of year. Most of the metro area will see Sunday highs in the upper 30s. Minnesota and western Wisconsin highs will be mainly in the 30s this Sunday afternoon, with 20s in parts of northeastern and north-central Minnesota and 40s in southwestern Minnesota.

It’ll look like December this evening and overnight. An approaching low pressure system will bring a chance of rain showers and snow showers to northwestern and west-central Minnesota by late Sunday afternoon. Snow coverage then expands across much of northern, central and eastern Minnesota plus western Wisconsin Sunday evening and Sunday night. The snow will probably linger into Monday morning in northeastern Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin.

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

The Twin Cities metro area will probably see some periods of light snow Sunday evening and overnight. The flakes could be mixed with rain at times. Snow accumulations in the metro area are expected to be less than one inch. There could be slick spots on some roads tonight and early Monday.

Here’s the NWS depiction of precipitation timing:

Potential snow totals Sunday evening through Monday morning could look like this:

You can hear updated weather information on the MPR 

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

Northeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin have the best chance of flakes on Monday. Most of Tuesday looks dry. Some forecast models show snow for northern and central Minnesota plus northwestern Wisconsin Tuesday night into Wednesday. A few models include the Twin Cities metro area in that accumulating snow. Some other models keep the metro area dry Tuesday night and Wednesday. We’ll have more details on that tomorrow. Thursday and Friday look dry in most areas.

Monday highs will be mainly in the 30s, with 20s in far northern Minnesota:

A few spots in southwestern Minnesota could top 40.

Monday will be windy, with gusts of 20 to 30 mph in many areas:

Plotted winds are in knots, with 25 knots equal to 29 mph. Monday wind gusts could reach 40 mph at times in southwestern Minnesota.

Back to temps, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 30s on Monday, then around 40 degrees on Tuesday. We could see lower 30s early Wednesday morning, with temps falling through the 20s as we go through the rest of the day. Metro area highs only reach the middle teens on Thursday, followed by lower 20s on Christmas Day.

If you’ve been looking at the southwestern part of the evening sky lately, you may have noticed that Saturn and Jupiter appear closer together each day.

 showing the position of the two planets over the past few months:

Minnesota may have patchy clouds  Monday evening, so there will be a chance to see the conjunction in some areas.

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

Mild temps will stay with us a couple more days. Many of us will see snowflakes Sunday night. We have details on what you can expect over the next few days, plus some info on the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.

Mild temps; Periods of snow in many areas Sunday evening and overnight

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