Weekend weather: Unusually warm; best snow conditions on Saturday

We have your weekend forecast details, but we’ll first take a quick look at Friday afternoon and evening.

The National Weather Service has highlighted northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin for the possibility of a wintry mix of flurries and freezing drizzle Friday:

Details of the outlook:

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

Our Friday highs reach the 30s in the Twin Cities metro area and to our south and east, with 20s elsewhere in Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.

Weekend temperatures

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 25 degrees on Dec. 21 and 22. We’ll be seeing highs in the lower 40s this weekend!

We’ll share highs in the 40s with southern Minnesota, while northern Minnesota tops out in the 30s:

Highs in the 40s are forecast for about the southern half of Minnesota on Sunday, with 30s to the north:

West-central Wisconsin will also reach the 40s Sunday afternoon.

Snow depths

We looked at a regional map of snow cover in Thursday’s Updraft post. Now, we have a detailed Minnesota snow depth map, courtesy of the Minnesota State Climatology Office and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:

Note the large area in northeastern Minnesota with 18 to 24 inches of snow on the ground, with some pockets of 24 to 30 inches of snow cover. Elsewhere in northern Minnesota and much of central Minnesota snow depths are generally in the 8- to 18-inch range of snow depth, with the Twin Cities in the 4- to 8-inch range.

Our snow cover will shrink a bit this weekend, so if you’re sledding, snowboarding or cross-country skiing this weekend, Saturday afternoon snow depths will be higher than Sunday afternoon snow depths. The map link also takes you to trail conditions around Minnesota.

Outdoor events

This unusually mild weekend weather may coax you outdoors. Explore Minnesota has dozens of festivals and other events around the state of Minnesota this weekend. One outdoor activity that might be of interest is the Winter in Bloom Lights Display at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, Minnesota:

Winter Lights open Fri. - Sun. (additional dates Dec. 26, 30, 31, Jan. 1 and 2). Outdoor and indoor holiday lights celebrate the season. Indoors: Great Hall of Trees with live poinsettia tree and decorated trees with nature-inspired ornaments and greens. Outdoors: Walking self-guided tour of lighted nature-inspired installations and more.

Additional informational about the display can be found here.

If you are going to be outdoors in the early evening hours this weekend, temperatures will be very mild. In the Chaska area, you can expect weekend temps in the upper 30s at 5 p.m., dipping to the lower 30s by around 9 p.m., which is very comfortable for December.

I hope that you have a great weekend!