Weekend weather: Cool temps; NE Minnesota could see some flakes Saturday
Fall color update for leaf-peepers
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I’ll get to the Saturday and Sunday forecast in a moment, after a look at Thursday night and Friday snowflake chances.
A low-pressure system will spin precipitation into northwestern Minnesota over Thursday afternoon and evening. A rain-snow mix is expected to change over to snow and linger into Friday morning in that area.
Precipitation will spread across much of northern and central Minnesota and parts of northwestern Wisconsin Thursday evening into Friday. Temperatures will be cool enough for accumulating snow from this system.
The Twin Cities metro area and west-central Wisconsin could see a rain-snow mix at times Thursday night, then some periods of light snow Friday morning.
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North-central and northeastern Minnesota are expected to see the most snow Thursday night into Friday, with some 1- and 2-inch totals. Here are the National Weather Service snow forecasts for that period:
Here are forecast snow amounts for northwestern Minnesota Thursday evening through Friday morning:
The Twin Cities metro area could see a mix of rain showers and snow showers late Thursday night and then periods of light snow Friday morning.
At this point it looks like the north metro will have the best chance of some minor snow accumulation Friday morning. Any snow in the metro area would melt Friday afternoon. Check forecast updates. You can check the MPR News interactive radar here.
We have updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and on the MPR News live weather blog.
Flake chance lingers Saturday in NE Minnesota
Some intermittent snow showers are possible on Saturday morning in north-central and northeastern Minnesota and in far northwestern Wisconsin.
The snow showers could change to a rain-snow mix or all rain in those same areas Saturday afternoon.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 3 a.m. Saturday to 7 p.m. Saturday:
Chilly weekend
Our average Twin Cities high temp is 59 degrees on Oct. 15. Metro area highs are expected to be in the lower 50s this Saturday. Highs will be in the 50s in roughly the southern third of Minnesota on Saturday, with mainly 40s elsewhere in Minnesota and western Wisconsin:
Saturday will be breezy, with afternoon wind gusts in the 15-22 mph range in many areas:
Forecast wind gust are in knots, with 15 knots equal to 17.3 mph.
Sunday highs will be in the 40s in many areas, with 30s in far northern Minnesota:
Fall color update
Recent strong winds have taken a lot of leaves off of our trees, but there are still some areas of great fall color in portions of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro area.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fall color report for Minnesota State Parks and Trails looks like this:
When you look at fall color maps, keep in mind that all deciduous trees are included. The maples can be peaking in a given area when the overall changeover to fall color is 50 percent or less.
The Wisconsin fall color report can be found here.
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. Saturday and Sunday.
