Wintry mix and icy roads; heaviest weekend snows to the west and north

We saw freezing rain Saturday morning in the Twin Cities metro area, which contributed to numerous spin-outs and crashes as roads became icy.

This MNDOT cam pic was from around 8 a.m. Saturday:

This from the Minnesota State Highway Patrol Saturday morning:

Another round of freezing rain/rain and possible sleet will be moving through the metro area during the late morning/early afternoon, and additional icing could occur into early afternoon before temperatures rise a few degrees toward mid-afternoon. The metro area will have periods of rain Saturday night and Sunday.

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Saturday afternoon update:

MNDOT lifts “no travel” advisory lifted in Twin Cities metro, but there are still some icy spots:

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The big picture

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

Green indicates rain, while blue is snow and pink/purple is a wintry mix in the loop.

We might hear thunder at times Saturday afternoon into Sunday in southern and eastern Minnesota plus western Wisconsin.

Heaviest snow amounts will be to the west and north this weekend:

Here are details on weekend snow amounts in northwestern Minnesota:

Northeastern Minnesota will see a wintry mix plus some substantial snow totals:

Another batch of snow spins over Minnesota and Wisconsin Sunday night and Monday, here’s the NOAA loop from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon:

The snow totals from the second system look like this:

The Twin Cities metro area could see a couple of inches of fresh snow late Sunday night into Monday.

Warnings and advisories

A winter weather advisory continues until 3 p.m. this Saturday in the Twin Cities metro area, due to the sleet and freezing rain included in our wintry mix.

Winter weather advisories cover much of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, with winter storm warnings to the west and an ice storm warning today and through Saturday night in southwestern Minnesota:

Here are details of the Brown and Redwood county portion of the southwestern Minnesota ice storm warning Saturday through Saturday night:

Winter storm warnings continue in west-central Minnesota and much of northern Minnesota:

Northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin warnings and advisories look like this:

Updates on the winter storm will be posted by the NWS offices in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Grand Forks, La Crosse and Sioux Falls.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation will have updated road conditions. Wisconsin road conditions can be found here.

You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Temperature trends

Saturday highs will be in the 30s across most of Minnesota plus western Wisconsin, with some 20s in northwestern Minnesota.

Sunday highs range from 20s northwest to 40s southeast:

Monday highs reach the 30s to the east, with falling temps in most spots by afternoon:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 20s on Tuesday, followed by lower 30s on New Year’s Day.

Programming note

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