Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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This will be a good weekend for getting outdoors.  Most of Minnesota has plenty of snow cover for sledding, cross-country skiing or snowboarding:

The official Twin Cities snow depth is 12 inches right now, but some spots in the metro area have snow depths of 15 inches or higher.

The purple areas on the snow depth map indicate 18 inches or more of snow cover from northern Isanti County and northern Chisago County up through northeastern Minnesota.

The light purple areas in Pine County and portions of northeastern Minnesota have 24 inches or more of snow on the ground.

Some spots in far southeastern Minnesota have 2 inches or less of snow cover.

The combination of a high-pressure system to our southeast and a low-pressure system to the west will give us south-southeasterly breezes and mild temps this weekend.

It looks like a dry weekend in most spots. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the pressure pattern and the potential precipitation pattern from noon Saturday through 6 p.m. on Sunday:

Far northern Minnesota could see a few stray flurries at times.

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

Saturday highs are expected to reach the 30s in the southern half of Minnesota plus much of western Wisconsin. Northern Minnesota will see a lot of 20s. Many parts of the Twin Cities metro area will top out in the lower 30s Saturday afternoon. That’s mild for mid-January; our average Twin Cities high temp is 23 degrees this time of year.

Sunday highs will reach the mid to upper 30s in many areas:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 40 somewhere in southeastern Minnesota.

Sunday afternoon wind chill temps will be in the 20s above zero:

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

Our streak of above-normal temps may end next weekend. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for near normal temps in Minnesota and western Wisconsin next weekend and into the start of the following week:

Computer models show a low pressure system spreading precipitation across Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Monday, with precipitation lingering in many areas Monday night into early Tuesday. It will tend to be rain on Monday to the southeast, with snow to the northwest and a rain/snow mix in between.

The Twin Cities metro area will probably see periods of rain Monday morning into early Monday afternoon. The metro area could then see a rain/snow mix late Monday afternoon into Monday evening, ending as snow Monday night into very early on Tuesday.

Check forecast updates as we get closer to Monday.

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

We’ll have mild (for January) temps the next several days. Our weekend weather should be drama-free, then rain and snow move in on Monday.

Mild temps into next week; Rain and rain/snow mix Monday and Monday night

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