Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

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

Updated snow depth map

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January 23, 2022 in St. Paul
Ron Trenda/MPR News

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:

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Minnesota snow depth
Minnesota State Climatology Office/Minnesota DNR

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.

Weekend weather pattern

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:

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Simulated radar from 6 a.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

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

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Areas of fog and freezing fog early Saturday
National Weather Service

You can find updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and on the MPR News live weather blog.

Weekend temps

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

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Saturday morning forecast lows
National Weather Service

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:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

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

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Saturday noon forecast wind chill temps
National Weather Service

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

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

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

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Sunday noon forecast wind chill temps
National Weather Service

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.