Weekend forecast: Two batches of snow, cool temps

Friday evening commute may be affected by snow

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View of the Mississippi River from St. Paul on Tuesday.
Ron Trenda | MPR News

I was reminded this week that sunglasses come in handy when we have bright sunshine and plenty of snow cover.

Our weekend weather will feature two batches of new snow.

The first batch of snow begins in western and northern Minnesota Friday afternoon, then spreads across the rest of Minnesota, plus western Wisconsin, Friday evening. The snow ends from northwest to southeast late Friday night into early Saturday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday:

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Simulated radar 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Snowfall totals by late Friday night are expected to be in the 1- to 2-inch range in many areas:

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Snow forecast Friday evening and overnight Friday night
National Weather Service

The snow will affect the Friday evening commutes in some locations. In the Twin Cities metro area, the snow could begin between 6 and 7 p.m. on Friday.

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

Saturday night snow

Some areas could see another inch of snow Saturday night. NOAA’s NAM forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from noon Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday:

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Simulated radar noon Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Weekend temps

Many locations will have their Saturday high temperature around 1 a.m., with temperatures retreating a bit during the daylight hours of Saturday.

Our Saturday temperature in the Twin Cities could be around 20 degrees at 1 a.m., with mid-teens by sunrise. Here are forecast temperatures for 6 a.m. Saturday:

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Forecast temps for 6 a.m. Saturday
National Weather Service

Sunday highs will be mainly in the teens, with some 20s in southwestern Minnesota and single-digit highs in the far north:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

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.