Temps recover Sunday, and snow returns late in the day; mildest temps early next week

The high temperature Saturday afternoon at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 16 degrees. That was well below our average Jan. 11 Twin Cities high of 23 degrees. We’ll see Twin Cities metro area highs in the low-to-mid 20s on Sunday.

Temperature trends

Sunday highs will reach the teens across much of northern and central Minnesota, with 20s from southern Minnesota into western Wisconsin:

Monday highs reach the 30s in the Twin Cities metro area and points to the east and southeast:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be around 30 very early on Tuesday, with temps falling through the 20s the rest of the day. We’ll see a high in the upper teens on Wednesday, but we’ll only reach around 8 degrees on Thursday, followed by a high around 20 on Friday. Our coldest morning will be on Thursday, with a low in the single digits below zero. That same morning could feature lows in the teens and 20s below zero in northern Minnesota.

Milwaukee and Chicago travel problems Saturday night

Portions of southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois will see poor travel conditions this Saturday evening and overnight Saturday night due to snow and a wintry mix. If you are planning travel into those areas, here are the winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories that have been issued for Saturday evening and overnight Saturday night:

This is from the Chicago office of the NWS, with “this evening” referring to Saturday evening:

You can check with the NWS offices in southeastern Wisconsin and Chicago for updates.

Snow returns to Minnesota

Periods of lake-effect snow are expected Saturday evening and overnight into Sunday along the north and south shores of Lake Superior.

Snow will move into southern Minnesota Sunday afternoon and spread northeastward through the afternoon and evening hours. It looks like the snow will arrive in the Twin Cities metro area in the mid to late afternoon hours and continue Sunday evening, with an inch or two of accumulation possible. Some spots in southeastern Minnesota could see around three inches of snow.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Sunday afternoon through Sunday night:

If you have Friday travel plans, watch forecast updates on a potential plowable snow late in the week.

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

January warmth

It hit 70 degrees in Boston on Saturday:

The warmest January temperature in Twin Cities weather records was 58 degrees:

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.