Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Weekend weather: Above-normal temps; northern MN may see snow Sunday

Updated Minnesota snow depth map

Friday afternoon temps are running close to normal. We’ll have above-normal temps this weekend.

Weekend temps

Low temps early Saturday morning will be in the teens and lower 20s:

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Saturday morning forecast lows
National Weather Service

Our average Twin Cities low temperature is 14 degrees on Feb. 18, and our average high temperature is 30 degrees.

Many spots in the metro area will have a Saturday morning low around 20 degrees, with an afternoon high in the upper 30s.

Highs in the 30s are expected across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Saturday:

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Saturday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Parts of west-central and northwestern Minnesota will see upper 20s.

Low temps early Sunday morning will be in the lower 20s in many locations, with teens in west-central and northwestern Minnesota:

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Sunday morning forecast lows
National Weather Service

Sunday highs will be in the 30s in many areas, with 20s in west-central and northwestern Minnesota:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday snow opportunities favor the north

Saturday looks dry in most spots. A low-pressure system will spread periods of snow across much of northern Minnesota on Sunday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday:

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Simulated radar from 6a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

The Twin Cities metro area could see a stray flurry Sunday afternoon.

It looks like northwestern Minnesota may see a coating to around 1 inch of snow on Sunday. Parts of north-central and northeastern Minnesota could receive 1 to 2 inches of fresh snow:

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Sunday snow forecast
National Weather Service

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.

Minnesota snow cover

The steady rain on Tuesday degraded our snow cover a bit.

In case you still want to try sledding or cross-country skiing this weekend, here’s the latest Minnesota snow depth map, from the Minnesota State Climatology Office:

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Minnesota snow depth
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.

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.