Freezing fog in some areas Saturday night, early Sunday; Milder temps this week

A high pressure system delivered light winds to Minnesota and Wisconsin on Saturday. The light winds will continue into Saturday night, which will allow some areas of fog/freezing fog to develop and then linger into early Sunday morning.

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.

Air quality

With light winds and a temperature inversion (warmer air aloft), pollutants can become trapped at low levels. The air quality status in the Twin Cities was in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category Saturday afternoon. You can find the most recent air quality status map posted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency here.

Temperature trends

As the high pressure system slides southeastward on Sunday, south-southwesterly breezes will develop over Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the pressure pattern and the potential precipitation pattern from Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon:

Sunday highs will be in the 20s in most areas:

New info shows that parts of the Twin Cities metro area could reach the mid 20s. Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 24 degrees this time of year. Sunday afternoon wind chill temps are expected to be in the single-digits and teens above zero across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Back to high temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 20s on Monday, then around 30 Tuesday followed by mid 30s Wednesday, lower 30s Thursday and upper 20s on Friday.

Temperatures may stay above normal next weekend and into the start of the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a strong tendency for above normal temperatures in Minnesota and Wisconsin from Jan. 13 through Jan. 17:

Impressive snow cover

There’s plenty of snow for sledding, cross-country skiing and snowboarding in most parts of Minnesota right now.

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

The official Twin Cities snow depth is 15 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.

Weather nugget

Our Twin Cities sunset was at 4:48 p.m. today. In one month, our Twin Cities sunset will be at 5:29 p.m.….that’s 41 minutes later than today. 

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.