Weekend forecast: Great getting-out weather; mildest temps Saturday
Mildest temps on Saturday
I took a walk in Minnetonka Mills Park on Thursday, enjoying the sunshine and relatively mild temperatures. Our temps retreated a bit Friday, but they will return to the comfortable range for your weekend outdoor activities.
Snow depths
There’s ample snow for cross-country skiing, snowboarding and sledding across most of Minnesota right now:
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reports 8 inches of snow cover, with metro area amounts generally in the 6- to 9-inch range. Most of the northern half of Minnesota has one foot or more of snow cover.
Parts of northeastern Minnesota have at least 2 feet of snow on the ground right now.
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Weekend snow?
There aren’t any big snowstorms in the weekend forecast. Far northern Minnesota could see a few snow showers on Saturday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 6 a.m. Saturday to 11 p.m. Saturday:
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.
Weekend temps and winds
Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 24 degrees on Jan. 29. Some spots in the metro area will reach 30 degrees Saturday afternoon. Much of Minnesota will have Saturday highs in the 20s, with lower 30s in southwestern and south-central Minnesota:
Saturday afternoon wind gusts will be in the 14-20 mph range in most areas, with gusts over 20 mph in parts of far western Minnesota:
Forecast gusts are in knots, with 14 knots equal to 16.1 mph.
Sunday high temperatures will be mainly in the teens in northern Minnesota, with 20s in the south:
Winds will be fairly light on Sunday:
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.