Wintry mix Thursday night, another storm Friday

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It’s nice to talk about a bright and dry weekend. It’ll be chilly Saturday morning, then temps recover nicely.

Northwesterly breezes will lighten up Friday night and the skies will clear. That will allow temps to drop into the 30s late Friday night/early Saturday across much of northern and central Minnesota and northern Wisconsin plus parts of west-central Wisconsin.

A frost advisory runs from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. Saturday from Pine County Minnesota north to St. Louis County and then eastward through most of northeastern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin:

Portions of northern and central Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin that aren’t in the frost advisory will have Saturday morning lows in the the mid to upper 30s, and could see some patchy frost. When winds are light, temps near the ground can be several degrees cooler than the official temps which are measured five feet above the ground.  

Twin Cities metro area lows are expected to be mainly in the lower 40s Saturday morning. A few low spots in the north metro could see upper 30s.

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

Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have a dry weekend, thanks to a nearby high-pressure system.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential rain pattern from 4 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday:

The NAM model indicates the potential for an isolated shower late Sunday afternoon in northeastern Minnesota.

The average Twin Cities high temperature on May 20 is 71 degrees. Metro area highs are expected to reach the lower 70s this Saturday.

Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have Saturday afternoon highs in the 70s:

There will be a few upper 60s in far northeastern Minnesota, near Grand Marais.

Sunday highs will be well into the 70s in most locations:

Highs in the 60s are expected near Lake Superior, as gusty east-northeasterly winds develop Sunday afternoon.

Several rivers are reaching a second spring crest, thanks to the heavy rain that fell over portions of southern Minnesota six to nine days ago.

You can check the river levels at various locations in Minnesota and western Wisconsin 

. This is how the linked map looked Friday afternoon:

You can zoom in on the linked map page and get detailed info on river levels at a specific location.

River levels are measured in relation to the height above a local benchmark. In some locations, river levels are listed in feet above sea level.

Here’s the hydrograph of recent, current and forecast levels for the Minnesota River at Jordan, which is at moderate flood stage: 

The Minnesota River at Jordan will begin to fall Saturday afternoon and then continue to fall through the coming week.

The Mississippi River at St. Paul is at minor flood stage and it’s forecast to crest slightly below moderate flood stage this weekend, then fall through the coming week:

You can find updated flood warning information at the following National Weather Service sites: 

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach about 80 degrees on Monday, followed by lower 80s Tuesday and Wednesday, then back around 80 for Thursday and Friday.

The Twin Cities record high for May 19 is 97 degrees, set in 2009. The Twin Cities high temp the next day was 94 degrees.

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

We’ll have some very chilly temps late Friday night into early Saturday. There’s a frost advisory posted for a portion of northern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. Temps rebound nicely for Saturday afternoon and the remainder of the weekend.

Frost in parts of northern Minnesota early Saturday, then a nice weekend

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