Periods of snow Sat. evening; quiet weather on Sunday

A strong low pressure system near the eastern edge of Lake Superior will move slowly eastward Saturday night.

It’ll deliver periods of snow to much of eastern Minnesota into Saturday evening, with the snow tapering off from west to east by late evening. Some light rain or drizzle could be mixed with the snow at times. Periods of snow or a mix will continue in portions of northern and central Wisconsin until later Saturday night.

Less than one inch of additional snow is expected Saturday evening in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Gusty winds Saturday evening will reduce visibilities where it is snowing.

Blowing snow northwest

A winter weather advisory continues until 8 p.m. this Saturday evening in portions of northwestern Minnesota, due to blowing snow:

Here are details of the advisory:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Grand Forks ND 301 PM CST Sat Dec 9 2023 MNZ001-013>015-100200- /O.EXP.KFGF.WW.Y.0030.000000T0000Z-231209T2100Z/ /O.NEW.KFGF.WW.Y.0031.231209T2101Z-231210T0200Z/ West Polk-Pennington-Red Lake-East Polk- Including the cities of Crookston, East Grand Forks, Dakota Junction, Thief River Falls, Red Lake Falls, Fosston, Fertile, McIntosh, and Erskine 301 PM CST Sat Dec 9 2023 ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CST THIS EVENING... ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY HAS EXPIRED... * WHAT...Blowing snow. Winds gusting as high as 40 mph. * WHERE...West Polk, Pennington, Red Lake and East Polk Counties. * WHEN...Until 8 PM CST this evening. * IMPACTS...Patchy blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Use caution while traveling, especially in open areas. The latest road conditions for North Dakota can be found at travel.dot.nd.gov and for Minnesota at 511mn.org, or by calling 5 1 1 in either state. &&

Gusty winds are expected statewide Saturday evening, with strong gusts continuing overnight Saturday night along the North Shore of Lake Superior:

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. 

Updated forecast info will be posted by the NWS offices in the Twin Cities, Duluth, La Crosse, Sioux Falls and Grand Forks.

Snow totals

Parts of northwestern Minnesota saw several inches of snow Friday evening into Saturday morning.

Thief River Falls reported six inches of new snow, as did Middle River, in Marshall County. There was a report of 5.4 inches in Crookston, which is in Polk County of northwestern Minnesota.

Additional snow reports will be found here as they are posted by the National Weather Service. You can pan and zoom the linked map to see snow totals plus the date and time of the measurement. Here’s how the snow report map looked at 5 p.m. Saturday:

Snow totals from eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin will arrive overnight or early Sunday.

MNDOT’s site reported that some roads in northern Minnesota were either partially or completely covered with snow or slush Saturday afternoon, with icy stretches also reported.

Quiet Sunday

No new snow is expected in Minnesota or western Wisconsin from 6 a.m. Sunday through 11 p.m. Sunday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern for that period:

Temperature trends

Sunday high temperatures will be in the 20s across northern Minnesota, with mainly 30s in the south:

Metro area highs are expected to reach the lower 30s. The average Twin Cities high temperature is 31 degrees on Dec. 10.

Monday highs will be mainly in the 30s, with some 20s in the far north:

A few spots in southwestern Minnesota could reach the lower 40s.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 30s on Tuesday, followed by lower 40s Wednesday, mid-to-upper 40s on Thursday and lower 40s on Friday.

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. each Saturday and Sunday