Weekend: Light snow-then milder; bigger snow Thursday?

Get ready for some signifcant weather changes in the next week.

Cold first:

The weekend will dawn cold in Minnesota. Sub-zero temps early Saturday will give way to highs in the teens Saturday with temps rebounding into the 20s to near 30 by Sunday.

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The weekend starts on a chilly note Saturday morning.

Saturday snow?

As warm air mercifully pushes back toward Minnesota this weekend, light snow should break out Saturday as warm air overruns our relatively cold dome near the surface.

The computers are only printing out around .10" of liquid equivalent...but that could produce an inch or two of fluff with temps in the teens.

NAM model likes 1.9" of powder Saturday. FYI, GFS says 0.8"

It looks like there could be a few hours of very light snow Saturday afternoon. With temps in the teens, it won't take much snow to grease up some roads as road salt doesn't work as well below 20 degrees.

Milder Sunday with a "near miss?"

Sunday should feature milder temperatures as arctic air retreats. 20s should be common by afternoon, with a shot at 30 in southern Minnesota.

A fairly decent storm system should track near or south of Chicago Sunday into Monday.

That track should be far enough southeast of Minnesota to keep the heavy snow bands south of the metro, but a swath of 6"+ could possibly clip far southeast Minnesota and much of Wisconsin.

Bigger snow next week?

After a fairly quiet start to next week, it looks like there is a chance of a bigger snow system by next Thursday. It's early, but the models are hinting at low pressure coming north Thursday, with a push of snowfall that could produce several inches somewhere close to home.

Stay tuned.....

No sign of spring...yet.

The longer range weather maps are still locked into a pattern that looks and feels a lot like late winter. It appears that seasonal temps and chances for snow could linger into mid-March this year.

Want some hope for spring? Upper air patterns become increasingly amplified and chaotic as we move into March in the northern hemisphere. The medium range forecast models have a tougher time catching the changes during this seasonal "transition."

It is quite possible to wake up any day now, and see a set of forecast maps that look a lot like spring...with a major surge of warm air heading for the Midwest.

While I'm hopeful that our warm up may be gradual for those at risk of flooding, I know that things can change very rapidly as we head into March.

Have a great weekend!

PH