Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Mild weekend temps; no arctic chill in sight

Areas of fog Friday night and Saturday morning

I hope that you had a very nice New Year’s Day.

As expected, the New Year’s Day snow missed Minnesota. Snow will continue this Friday evening in parts of eastern Iowa, southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Portions of northern Illinois may also see some freezing rain.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern for Friday evening:

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Simulated radar for Friday evening
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Winter weather advisories continue Friday evening in portions of southern Wisconsin:

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Friday snow in southern Wisconsin
National Weather Service

Warnings and advisories continue Friday evening in portions of Iowa:

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Friday snow in Iowa
National Weather Service

Minnesota and western Wisconsin may see some areas of fog Friday evening, overnight and early Saturday morning. Traverse and Big Stone Counties of west-central Minnesota are in a dense fog advisory until midnight this Friday.

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

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 24 degrees this time of year. Twin Cities metro area highs will flirt with 30 degrees on Saturday. Highs in the upper 20s to lower 30s are expected across much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin Saturday afternoon:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Winds gusts will be 10 mph or less in the southeast, with gusts over 15 mph possible in northwestern Minnesota Saturday afternoon:

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Saturday noon forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

Plotted wind gusts are in knots, with 7 knots equal to 8 mph and 13 knots equal to around 15 mph.

Back to temperatures, Sunday highs are expected to be in the upper 20s to lower 30s in most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be around 30 on Sunday, followed by upper 30s on Monday and lower 30s Tuesday and Wednesday.

We don’t see any extended cold snaps in the next 10 days. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for above-normal temperatures in Minnesota and Wisconsin from Jan. 7 through Jan. 11:

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Temperature outlook Jan. 7 to Jan. 11
NWS Climate Prediction Center

The monthly temperature outlook for January also shows a tendency for above-normal temps:

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January temperature outlook
NWS Climate Prediction Center

Of course, you can have a few cold days in any given month and still end up with an average monthly temp that’s above normal.

Maybe our January utility bills will be a bit lower than normal.

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.