Weekend forecast: Mild Saturday, cooler Sunday; snow or a mix Saturday night

Minnesota snow depth map has been updated

Remember February of 2019? The Twin Cities had 39 inches of snow that month. It was the snowiest February in Twin Cities snow records, which date back to 1885. So far this February, we’ve tallied only 4.4 inches of snow at MSP airport.

Snow cover

Many Minnesotans who have outdoor plans are interested in our Minnesota snow depths. Here’s the latest snow depth report from the Minnesota State Climatology Office and the Minnesota DNR:

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Thursday snow depth
Minnesota State Climatology Office/Minnesota DNR

The snow depth at MSP airport is currently 6 inches. Snow depths of 4 to 8 inches are shown in the south metro, with 8 to 12 inches in the north metro and many areas to the north as well as parts of southeastern Minnesota. There’s more than a foot of snow on the ground in northeastern Minnesota, with snow depths of 18 to 24 inches in much of Cook county.

Weekend temps and winds

Our average Feb. 27 high temp is 33 degrees in the Twin Cities. We could top 40 degrees Saturday afternoon.

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Saturday highs are expected to range from the teens in far northwestern Minnesota to the lower 40s in southern Minnesota and most of western Wisconsin.:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Saturday winds will be light in most areas, but gusts over 15 mph are expected in parts of far northwestern Minnesota:

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Saturday noon forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

Plotted wind gusts are in knots, with 6 knots equal to 7 mph and 17 knots equal to about 20 mph.

Sunday highs will be mainly in the 20s and lower 30s:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Wind gusts of 18-24 mph are expected on Sunday:

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Sunday noon forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

18 knots is equal to 20.7 mph.

Saturday p.m. snow

The northern third of Minnesota could see some scattered light snow showers on Saturday. After that, our snow chances shift to the south. A low pressure system will spin moisture over southern Minnesota, the Twin Cities metro area, and into Wisconsin Saturday evening into Sunday morning.

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

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

At this point, it looks like the Twin Cities metro area could see an inch or two of snow Saturday night into very early Sunday morning. There could be a narrow band of higher snow amounts in parts of southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, so check later forecasts. There could also be some rain mixed with the snow Saturday night.

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.

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.