Friday flake chances; mild weekend temps
You don't need a huge refrigerator if you're hosting a party this time of year.
My wife and I had a bunch of people over for a holiday gathering last Friday evening, and we just chilled the beverages out on the back porch for about three hours before the party started.
That left us with plenty of room in the refrigerator for food!
Temperature trends
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Highs this Friday afternoon will be range from the 30s in west-central and southwestern Minnesota to the upper teens in northeastern Minnesota.
The Twin Cities metro area is expected to reach the upper 20s, but a few spots could touch 30 degrees.
Our average high this time of year is 27 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area.
Saturday's highs will be mild, with 30s in much of southern and west-central Minnesota:
Southern and central Minnesota should reach the 30s on Sunday, with 20s north:
Twin Cities highs are expected to reach the upper 30s Monday, followed by mid 30s Tuesday and about 30 degrees on Wednesday.
Snow opportunities
Periods of snow or flurries are expected over much of Minnesota Friday and Friday night.
The snow will continue over north-central and northeastern Minnesota on Saturday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential snow pattern Friday afternoon through Saturday:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of snow.
Snow accumulations around the Twin Cities metro area are expected to be very light, but parts of the far north metro could see one half of an inch to one inch.
The best chance of some light snow accumulations in the Twin Cities metro area is expected to be Friday evening.
Northern Minnesota could see some two to three inch snow amounts from Friday afternoon through the overnight hours:
NWS Twin Cities
Here's how the two-day snow totals could look, once you add in the lingering light snow in northern Minnesota on Saturday:
Thursday snow?
It still looks like much of Minnesota will see some snow next Thursday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model now shows that the heaviest snow will fall over central and northern Minnesota:
The Canadian and European forecast models show that we'll have enough snow to shovel in the Twin Cities metro area.
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts has 8.1 millimeters of water content in the snow that falls on Minneapolis next Thursday :
That coverts to almost one third of an inch of water:
At a 10 to 1 snow to water ratio, we would see a bit over three inches of snow.
By the way, the temps on the ECMWF model are in degrees Celsius, so that -16 next Friday is still above zero in degrees Fahrenheit.
It's too early to start believing in any specific snow amounts for next Thursday:
We usually see forecast models converge on a much narrower range of snow totals as we get closer to the snow event!
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.