More like March than April this Saturday

I wish that I could talk about 50s and 60s today, but we’re looking at Saturday highs in the 30s in northern and central Minnesota with lower 40s in the south:

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 57 degrees on April 16. Metro area highs are forecast to be in the lower 40s this Saturday. That’s typical weather for mid-March — our average Twin Cities high temp is 42 degrees on March 16.

Saturday afternoon wind gusts will be over 20 mph in many areas, including the Twin Cities:

Plotted forecast gusts are in knots, with 20 knots equal to 23 mph.

Decreasing cloudiness

Northeastern Minnesota and parts of far northwestern Wisconsin could see a few light snow showers this Saturday morning.

Many areas are starting out with a lot of clouds, but cloud cover will shrink later Saturday morning into Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the forecast cloud cover from 8 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Saturday:

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Plenty of snow cover in northeastern Minnesota

If you still want to do some sledding, cross-country skiing or snowmobiling, you’ll be happy to know that there’s still plenty of snow on the ground in northeastern Minnesota and parts of north-central Minnesota.

The latest Minnesota snow depth map from the Minnesota State Climatology Office shows 12 to 18 inches of snow cover in most of Lake County and 18 to 24 inches of snow cover in much of Cook County in far northeastern Minnesota:

Update

A new updraft will be posted around 10:15 a.m. with a look at our rain and snow chances on Sunday and the milder temps that are on tap for late next week.

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.