Periods of rain Sat. evening into Sunday; Christmas rain, with snow or mix to the north and west

I’ll get to the weekend and Christmas forecast after a quick update on today’s fog.

Weak winds and our low sun angle have kept dense fog parked over much of northern and central Minnesota, where a dense fog advisory continues until 3 p.m. this Friday afternoon:

Areas of dense fog are also expected Friday night into Saturday morning, so a fresh batch of dense fog advisories are expected later today.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR News network. 

Rain and snow chances

Some areas will see spotty rain showers and drizzle Friday afternoon. A few areas of drizzle are also possible Friday evening into Saturday morning.

A low pressure system will spread rain into much of Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin Saturday evening into Sunday. Northwestern Minnesota could see a transition to snow on Sunday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 5 p.m. Saturday through 5 p.m. Sunday:

NOAA’s Finite Volume Cubed Sphere (FV3) model shows a somewhat similar precipitation pattern for that time period, but shows more of western Minnesota transitioning to snow on Sunday:

I should mention that one forecast model shows snow in much of the northwestern half of Minnesota late Sunday into early Christmas morning. We’ll have new runs of the forecast models later today, so forecasts for Sunday night and Monday will be tweaked if some areas see an increased chance of snow.

Warmth continues

The average Twin Cities high temperature is 26 degrees on Dec. 23. Metro area highs are expected to reach the upper 40s to around 50 this Saturday.

Much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will see Saturday highs in the 40s.

Some spots in far southern Minnesota could reach the lower 50s.

Sunday high temperatures range from 30s in northwestern Minnesota to 50s in the Twin Cities metro area plus southeastern Minnesota and parts of west-central Wisconsin.

The Twin Cities record high temperature for Dec. 24 is 46 degrees, set in 1957. That record appears likely to be broken on Sunday.

Christmas Day will feature highs in the 30s across much of Minnesota, with 40s in the Twin Cities metro area plus south central and southeastern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin:

In case you’re wondering, the Twin Cities record high temp for Dec. 25 is 51 degrees, set in 1922.

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.