Weekend forecast: Saturday snow accumulates in northern Minn.; Sunday is our chilliest day

I remember pressing my nose against the window to watch the first snowflakes of autumn when I was very young. I think many kids are amazed by that first batch of flakes, but I bet that many adults aren’t amused by snowflakes that fall in October.

Northern Minnesota will be the primary recipients of accumulating snow this Saturday and Saturday night. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows this potential precipitation pattern Saturday morning through Sunday morning:

Here’s the early version of the Saturday snow forecast for northern Minnesota and far northwestern Wisconsin, posted by the Duluth office of the National Weather Service:

At this point, it looks like the Twin Cities metro area could see a few scattered rain showers Saturday morning, then a few flakes late Saturday night and a chance of a snow shower and rain shower on Sunday.

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

Weekend temps and winds

Our average Twin Cities high temp is 58 degrees on Oct. 17. The metro area could see highs in the mid-50s on Saturday. Highs will probably range from the upper 30s in northeastern Minnesota to the upper 50s in far southern Minnesota Saturday afternoon:

You might wonder why there’s snow in the forecast for northern Minnesota with highs in the upper 30s. It’s because temperatures will be much colder than that aloft, and the snowflakes will survive their trip through the shallow layer of above-freezing temps near the ground.

Saturday will be breezy, with gusts of 18 to 26 mph:

Plotted values are in knots, with 18 knots equal to around 21 mph and 22 knots equal to around 25 mph.

Back to temps, the cold air will spread southward on Sunday. Highs in the 30s are expected on Sunday in most of northern and central Minnesota, with lower 40s in the Twin Cities metro area and southern Minnesota:

That’s chilly!

Fall colors

The strong winds of the past few days have taken a lot of leaves off of our trees. Spotty fall colors remain on trees that were slower to change over from green to yellow, orange and red.

Here’s the latest fall color report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:

Parts of the Twin Cities metro area and parts of far southern Minnesota haven’t reached “past peak” status yet.

Keep in mind that all deciduous trees are included in the fall color report, not just maples.

The Wisconsin fall color report can be found here.

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.