Cool Saturday temps, with areas of freezing fog in the morning
Light winds today
A nearby high pressure system kept winds light overnight and allowed areas of dense fog and freezing fog to develop in parts of Minnesota.
A dense fog advisory for visibilities of one-quarter mile or less continues until noon today from west-central Minnesota though southwestern and south-central Minnesota:
Those same areas can expect freezing fog. Patchy freezing fog is possible this morning elsewhere in Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin.
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.
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Saturday highs
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:
A nearby high pressure system will keep our winds light today. That high pressure system will slide southeastward later tonight and Sunday, shifting our winds to the southwest. Accumulating snow isn’t expected in Minnesota or western Wisconsin today or tomorrow.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the pressure pattern and the potential precipitation pattern from 8 a.m. Saturday through 5 p.m. Sunday:
Impressive snow depths
There’s plenty of snow cover 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.
Update
A new Updraft blog will be posted around 10:20 this morning. It will include an update on today’s weather plus 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. Saturday and Sunday.