Milder Saturday temps; flake chances northeastern Minnesota

After a chilly start early Saturday morning, temps will recover nicely this afternoon.

Temps and winds

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 24 degrees on Jan. 29. Most of the metro area will top out in the upper 20s this Saturday. Much of Minnesota will have Saturday highs in the 20s, with low-to-mid 30s in southwestern and south-central Minnesota:

There will be some upper teens in far northern Minnesota.

Saturday afternoon wind gusts will be in the 12-18 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.

Snow depths

There’s ample snow cover 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.

Weekend snow?

There aren’t any big snowstorms in the Saturday forecast. Northeastern Minnesota and parts of north-central Minnesota could see a few snow showers today and this evening.

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:

Snow amounts will be minimal:

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.

This Updraft blog will be updated by around 10:15 with a look at the blizzard in New England plus our Sunday forecast and a look at the week ahead.

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.