Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

A chilly Thanksgiving, then a milder weekend

Rain and snow chances return to Minnesota Saturday

The Thanksgiving chill is likely to be the coldest weather for the next week, with seasonable temperatures back by the weekend.

Thanksgiving forecast

The chilly air that moved across Minnesota behind Wednesday’s cold front has made for a frigid start Thursday morning. Morning temperatures are in the single-digits for most of the state, with a couple negative readings in northern Minnesota. Southeastern Minnesota is slightly milder with a few more morning temperatures in the teens, but that is where the winds are still the gustiest, so wind chills are still near zero as of 9 a.m.

Winds continues to diminish during the day, but temperatures remain well below average, with highs only in the teens north and 20s south.

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Thursday high temperatures
National Weather Service

This is about 10 degrees below normal for late November. The one thing that will make it feel a bit more pleasant is abundant sunshine throughout the day.

Weekend forecast

Already by late Thursday, winds shift and become southerly again as Minnesota gets ahead of a warm front. This warms most of Minnesota back into the 30s by Friday afternoon.
Skies will be a little cloudier though, and the Arrowhead could see a couple morning flurries.

weather graphic
Forecast storm position Saturday morning
National Weather Service

The same system that brings in the milder air Friday pushes another cold front and a more widespread precipitation chance through Minnesota on Saturday.
Light snow and maybe a little freezing precipitation move into northern Minnesota late Friday, which is likely to be all snow for northern and central Minnesota by Saturday morning. The moisture spreads to southern Minnesota by the afternoon, but there it is more likely to be light rain or sprinkles.

All of Saturday’s precipitation is very sparse, with less than an inch of snow expected, and little rain accumulation.

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Forecast snowfall Saturday
National Weather Service
weather graphic
Twin Cities temperatures through Sunday
Weather.us

Saturday is still seasonable with highs in the 30s before the colder air of the front drops temperatures a few degrees on Sunday.

Here is that temperature trend for the Twin Cities through the holiday weekend:

Skies also begin to clear again Sunday, which is also a big day nation-wide for holiday travel, and cooperative travel weather is the expected trend for most of the country.

weather graphic
Forecast weather pattern Sunday afternoon
Tropical Tidbits

Overall, the forecast for next week is temperatures near to slightly above average, with no significant snow or rain chances in the forecast until possibly the first weekend of December.

Have a fabulous holiday weekend!

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.