Some Friday and Saturday sun; rain/snow mix on Sunday

Where did I put those sunglasses?

After four consecutive mostly cloudy days in the Twin Cities metro area, it's great to see some sunshine this morning!

Most of Minnesota will see some periods of sunshine Friday and Saturday, then a lot of clouds on Sunday.

Sunday and Monday flake outlook

We're still expecting periods of rain in much of Minnesota on Sunday, changing to a rain/snow mix and then all snow in parts of Minnesota Sunday night into Monday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern:

The GFS model shows potential snow accumulations Sunday night and Monday:

Check back for later updates, but it looks like the highest snow totals could be from central Minnesota into northeastern Minnesota.

The track of the low pressure system and the timing of the cold air's arrival will help determine any snowfall totals.

The storm system will have plenty of moisture, so much of Minnesota will see over an inch of precipitation (rain plus the water content of the snow that falls) from Sunday through Monday:

Cool temps 

Our average high temp is 64 degrees this time of year in the Twin Cities metro area.

We'll top out in the lower 50s this Friday afternoon in the Twin Cities and much of southern Minnesota, with 40s in most of northern and central Minnesota.

Minnesota will see Saturday highs mainly in the 50s:

Some 40s are expected near the north shore of Lake Superior.

Highs in the 40s will be common across most of Minnesota on Sunday:

The Twin Cities metro area will have highs in the lower 40s on Monday, then 50s Tuesday and Wednesday and 60 on Thursday of next week.

Drought ends in most areas

Jason Samenow of the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang has an interesting report on the end of drought conditions in most of the United States:

Poof! Drought, which covered almost one-third of the nation at the beginning of winter, has all but vanished.

Abundant winter and spring rains have decimated large regions of drought that afflicted the nation. On Thursday, the federal government’s U.S. Drought Monitor declared that only 6 percent of nation was affected by drought conditions, the lowest percentage since it began its assessments in 2000.

A close up look at this week's U.S. Drought Monitor report confirms that Minnesota and Wisconsin are both free of drought:

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 and 9:35 a.m., plus 4:35 p.m., each Saturday and Sunday.