Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Weekend forecast: Saturday a.m. shower chance; sunniest day is Sunday

Weekend temps near normal

April brings us some splashes of color. I was driving along Minnehaha Parkway in Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon and saw this blanket of blue flowers:

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Tuesday in Minneapolis
Ron Trenda/MPR News

I took a closer look:

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Tuesday in Minneapolis
Ron Trenda/MPR News

This appears to be Siberian squill, which some online sites describe as an invasive plant species.

A variety of additional colors were spotted Tuesday, and I’ve noticed that many magnolia trees are flowering right now. I haven’t seen any dandelions yet, but they’ll arrive before long.

The weekend

There could be a few lingering showers in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin Saturday morning. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern on Saturday:

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Simulated radar for Saturday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

The best chance of showers in Minnesota Saturday morning will be in the northeast, and some spots in northeastern Minnesota could also see a few wet flakes. A few Saturday morning sprinkles are possible in the Twin Cities and west-central Wisconsin. Note the steady rain in southeastern Wisconsin in the NAM loop.

Western Minnesota will have the most Saturday sunshine. The NAM model shows the potential cloud cover as we go through Saturday:

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Simulated Saturday cloud cover
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

The clouds will lift of to the northeast on Sunday, with the clouds slowest to clear out in northeastern Minnesota. The Twin Cities metro area should see plenty of Sunday sunshine.

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.

Weekend temps and winds

Our average April 10 high temp in the Twin Cities is 55 degrees. We’ll top out in the mid-50s this Saturday. Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have Saturday highs in the 50s, with 40s in north-central and northeastern Minnesota:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Saturday will be breezy, with gusts in the 15-20 mph range:

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Saturday 1 p.m. forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

Plotted gusts are in knots, with 16 knots equal to 18.4 mph. Gusts over 20 mph are possible in southwestern Minnesota.

Back to temperatures, Sunday highs will be in the 60s south, with 50s in northern Minnesota:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

The metro area will probably top out in the lower 60s Sunday afternoon, and winds will be light.

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.