Mild weekend temps; Sunday flakes in parts of northern Minnesota

As I drove past Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska yesterday I noticed that both lakes were ice-covered and virtually snow-free. That’s due to our recent mild temps plus Tuesday’s steady rain.

There’s still snow to be seen on our landscape, but snow depths have been shrinking recently. Here’s the latest Minnesota snow depth map, from the Minnesota State Climatology Office:

The official Twin Cities snow depth at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is 4 inches right now, with 4 to 8 inches of snow cover across much of the metro area.

Snow depths are 18 inches or higher from northern Pine County into northeastern Minnesota. The light purple shaded areas that cover much of Lake County and Cook County of northeastern Minnesota have between 24 and 36 inches of snow on the ground.

Temperature trends

Saturday highs will be in the 30s across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin:

The average Feb. 18 Twin Cities high temperature is 30 degrees, so upper 30s on Saturday will be several degrees warmer than normal.

Sunday highs will be in the 30s across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, but there’ll be some 20s in west-central and northwestern Minnesota:

Monday highs range from 20s north to 30s in the south:

Twin Cities metro area highs retreat to the mid 20s on Tuesday, followed by lower 20s Wednesday then upper teens on Thursday and Friday.

Snow chances

Saturday looks dry in most areas. Periods of light snow are possible in roughly the northern third of Minnesota late Saturday night into Sunday. Snow totals are expected to be generally less than one inch, but some spots near the Canadian border could see between one and two inches of snow on Sunday.

A clipper system will bring periods of light snow to much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin from late Sunday night into Monday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 9 p.m. Sunday to 9 p.m. Monday:

Snow totals are expected to be less than one inch in the metro area, but parts of northern Minnesota could see two or more inches of fresh snow on Monday.

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.

Midweek snowstorm?

Many forecast models show a strong low pressure system dropping heavy snow on portions of the upper Midwest Wednesday into Thursday. It’s too early to talk about specific snow amounts. The storm will have plenty of moisture to work with, so big snow totals are possible over the two-day event. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some double-digit snow totals in the heaviest snow band, wherever that sets up.

Check forecasts as we get closer to Wednesday. The snow could begin in some areas Tuesday evening.

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.