Winter storm warnings in northern Minnesota

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There’s plenty of snow out there. This will be a good weekend for sledding, cross-country skiing and snowboarding in most parts of Minnesota. 

Here’s the latest Minnesota snow depth map, from the Minnesota State Climatology Office:

The official Twin Cities snow depth is 16 inches, but some spots in the metro area have 18 inches or more of snow on the ground. Much of Lake County and Cook County of northeastern Minnesota have between 24 and 36 inches of snow cover. The lowest snow depths are in far southeastern Minnesota, where some spots have less than four inches on the ground.

We’ll have fairly light winds on Saturday, with a high pressure system nearby. Breezes pick up a bit Sunday afternoon as the center of the high pressure system slides to the southeast. Accumulating snow isn’t expected this weekend.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the pressure pattern and the potential precipitation pattern from 6 a.m. Saturday through 5 p.m. Sunday:

The light winds will allow areas of fog and freezing fog to develop late Friday night and linger into Saturday morning:

You can find updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News 

Low temps early Saturday morning will be in the single digits in most areas:

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 24 degrees on Jan. 7. We’re expecting metro area highs in the upper teens this Saturday. 

Western Minnesota will see Saturday highs in the teens, with lower 20s in much of northeastern and southeastern Minnesota plus western Wisconsin:

Saturday afternoon wind chills are expected to be in the single digits above zero across western Minnesota, with mainly teens to the east:

Sunday forecast highs are in the lower 20s in most areas, with some mid 20s in northwestern and north-central Minnesota:

Sunday afternoon wind chill temps will be mainly in the single digits:

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.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

Our weekend weather will cooperate with most outdoor activities. We have details on all that, plus the new Minnesota snow depth map.

Weekend weather: Cool temps and light winds; areas of fog/freezing fog early Saturday

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