Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

A bright Saturday; mix to light snow overnight and early Sunday

November 2020 much warmer than last November

You may not remember this, but last November was unusually chilly. Our average Twin Cities temperature (average of all the daily high temps and low temps) was 2.9 degrees below normal in Nov. 2019. The highest temp last November at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 46 degrees.

Compare that to this November, which has given us 5 days with highs in the 70s and 2 days with highs in the 60s:

rt1121clim3
Twin Cities Nov. 2020 weather data
National Weather Service

Our average Nov. 2020 temp at MSP airport is running 5.2 degrees warmer than normal.

Weekend temps and winds

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 38 degrees on Nov. 21. Twin Cities metro area highs will probably creep into the lower 40s this Saturday. Highs are forecast to reach the 40s from west-central and southern Minnesota into west-central Wisconsin, with 30s elsewhere in Minnesota and in northwestern Wisconsin.

Saturday winds will be comfortably light, generally in the 7-14 mph range with a few higher gusts.

Sunday highs will reach the 40s in far southern Minnesota plus west-central Wisconsin, with 30s in central and northern Minnesota:

It’ll be a bit breezy on Sunday, with afternoon gusts in the 15-22 mph range in many areas:

rt1122g3
Sunday noon forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

Plotted values are in knots, with 14 knots equal to 16 mph and 18 knots equal to around 21 mph.

Snow or a mix Saturday night into early Sunday

 A mix of light rain and snow is expected to move into western Minnesota as we go through Saturday evening. The mix spreads eastward as it transitions to mostly snow later Saturday night. There could be a bit of light freezing rain in a few spots overnight. Any precipitation in the Twin Cities metro area should hold off until after midnight. Light snow may linger into Sunday morning in parts of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

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

rt11121rad2
Simulated radar Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

Here’s the NWS projection of snow amounts Saturday night and Sunday morning:

rt1121sow
Saturday night through Sunday snow forecast
National Weather Service

The Twin Cities metro area is expected to see less than 1 inch of snow overnight Saturday night through early Sunday morning.

The week ahead

We could see a mix of rain and snow late Monday night and Tuesday. Parts of Minnesota and western Wisconsin might get enough snow to shovel. Forecast models don’t agree on the track and temperature profile of that Monday night/Tuesday low pressure system, so check forecast updates.

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be around 40 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by lower 40s Thursday and upper 30s on Friday.

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.