Weekend snow totals; 2024 will start out bright

Our snowfall totals from Saturday evening into early Sunday were fairly light. The freezing drizzle that accompanied the snow contributed to slick roads in eastern Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin.

Road conditions are improving in most areas today, but there are still some slippey stretches. Minnesota road conditions can be found here. Wisconsin road conditions can be found here.

Sunday/Monday outlook

A passing light snow shower or flurry is possible in the Twin Cities metro area and southeastern Minnesota into early afternoon. Wisconsin, eastern Iowa and northern illinois could see areas of snow showers until later in the afternoon.

Additional snow is not expected in Minnesota or western Wisconsin Sunday night or Monday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale Forecast System model shows the potential precipitation pattern from 5 p.m. Sunday through 5 p.m. Monday:

The coming week looks fairly dry. Some spots in Minnesota could see a passing light snow shower late Tuesday and/or early Wednesday.

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

Updated forecast information will be posted by the National Weather Service offices in the Twin Cities, Duluth, and La Crosse, Wis.

Weekend snow recap

The official weekend snow total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (through 6 a.m. Sunday) was 0.7 (seven-tenths) of an inch. I measured one inch of new snow in St. Paul. The NWS office in Chanhassen tallied 0.8 of an inch, St. Cloud reported 0.4 of an inch.

Here are weekend snow totals from the CoCoRaHS network, which were reported Sunday morning:

Twin Cities metro area totals ranged from 0.4 of an inch in Victoria and Long Lake to 1.9 inches near Ham Lake in Anoka County.

Oakdale had 1.5 inches of new snow. Plymouth, Robbinsdale, White Bear Lake and Maplewood tallied 1.4 inches of new snow.

Here’s a wider look at weekend snow totals through 10 a.m. Sunday:

To the north, Milaca reported 1.5 inches of new snow and Brainerd had a total of 1.1 inches. I noticed a couple of two-inch totals west of Duluth.

If you go to the linked CoCoRaHS site, you can zoom to the desired location and you can use “map options” to plot snowfall.

Snow reports from various sources, including CoCoRaHS, are posted by the NWS here. You can zoom the linked map to get details of the snow report.

Temperature trends

Much of Minnesota will have Sunday highs in the 20s, with some lower 30s in parts of southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Twin Cities metro area highs will be around 30 degrees, with a few spots creeping into the lower 30s. The average Twin Cities high temperature is 25 degrees this time of year.

Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will top out in the lower 30s on New Year’s Day:

Tuesday highs will be in the 20s in far northern Minnesota, with 30s elsewhere:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be around 30 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by lower 30s Friday.

Record warmth this month

Through yesterday, the average Twin Cities temp is 34.6 degrees this December. That’s warmer than the warmest December in Twin Cities weather records, which occurred in 1877 and had an average temp of 33.8 degrees.

The average monthly temp is the average of all the daily low temps and high temps. Today’s high and low temps will only decrease our Dec. 2023 average temperature slightly.

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.