Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Patchy drizzle, light snow today; winter storm may begin on Tuesday

Update on the storm track and heavy snow chances this coming week

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Dec. 9, 2022 in Minneapolis
Ron Trenda/MPR News

I’m almost getting used to seeing cloudy skies.

A disturbance will continue to bring areas of light snow and drizzle to Minnesota the remainder of this morning and into Saturday afternoon. Parts of northern Minnesota could also see patches of freezing drizzle into early afternoon. Periods of heavier snow are possible today in the higher elevations near Lake Superior, where a winter weather advisory continues until 6 p.m. today.

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Saturday winter weather advisory
National Weather Service

A winter weather advisory for light snow and patchy freezing drizzle continues until noon today elsewhere in the northern third of Minnesota.

Here are details of the snow and ice potential today in northeastern Minnesota:

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Saturday weather details
National Weather Service

Minnesota road conditions can be found here. Wisconsin road conditions can be found here.

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

Temperature trends

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 31 degrees on Dec. 10. Metro area highs will be in the mid to upper 30s this Saturday. Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will see Saturday highs in the 30s, and afternoon wind chill temps will be mainly in the 20s.

Sunday high temps will also be in the 30s:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday winds will be light in the east, but winds will be high enough in far westeen Minnesota to drop Sunday afternoon wind chill temps into the teens:

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Sunday noon forecast wind chills
National Weather Service

Back to high temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be in the mid to upper 30s Monday through Wednesday, followed by mid 30s Thursday and lower 30s on Friday.

Winter storm update

A low-pressure system is expected to become more organized over Colorado by Monday evening, then track northeastward Tuesday and Wednesday. It’ll spread plenty of moist air over the Upper Midwest. In the colder air over western, central and northern Minnesota, heavy snow will be possible. Some spots there could see double-digit snow totals by Thursday. Southeastern Minnesota, the Twin Cities metro area and west-central Wisconsin will be in the milder air to start, so those areas could start with a wintry mix Tuesday then rain and then back to a mix before finally changing to all snow.

The storm track and temperature profile will become more certain as we get closer to Tuesday and Wednesday…check forecast updates.

Here are some early looks at the potential winter storm impacts this coming week, from the NWS forecast offices in the Twin Cities, Grand Forks, and Duluth:

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Winter storm potential late Monday into Thursday
National Weather Service
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Potential for heavy snow Monday night through Wednesday night
National Weather Service
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Tuesday through Thursday snow outlook
National Weather Service

We’ll have new computer model information as we get closer to Monday night and Tuesday.

Weather nugget

The average Twin Cities snow total for the entire month of December is 11.4 inches. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has received just 1.6 inches of snow so this month, but we’ll add to that December snowfall total this 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. Saturday and Sunday.