Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

A bright and warmer Saturday, breezy by afternoon

Far northern Minnesota could see some late-day flakes

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 33 degrees this time of year. We’ve had four consecutive days with Twin Cities highs in the teens. That streak ends Saturday, with highs in the 30s in the metro area and much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Portions of northern Minnesota will have highs in the 20s.

Winds could gust over 25 mph at times Saturday afternoon:

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Saturday noon forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

Forecast winds are in knots, with 22 knots equal to 25.3 mph. Parts of northeastern Minnesota could see gusts over 30 mph at times.

Far northern Minnesota has a chance of light snow showers by late Saturday afternoon, then the northern third of Minnesota will have a chance of scattered snow showers Saturday evening and overnight

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

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

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.

Snow depth update

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Jan. 23, 2022 in St. Paul
Ron Trenda | MPR News

If your weekend plans include cross-country skiing, sledding or snowboarding, there’s ample snow on the ground right now.

The latest snow depth map from the Minnesota State Climatology Office shows 12 inches or more of snow in roughly the northern half of Minnesota, with 2 feet or more of snow cover in much of north-central and northeastern Minnesota:

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Thursday snow depth
Minnesota State Climatology Office | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The map was compiled Thursday morning, so it does not include the inch or 2 of snow that fell in southern Minnesota Thursday afternoon and evening. The official Twin Cities snow depth, measured at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, is 8 inches right now

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.