Seasonal weekend temps; some light snow
You won't be needing your sunglasses this weekend.
We're expecting a lot of clouds both days.
Most of us will also see some snowflakes, especially from Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Here is the simulated radar from NOAA's North American Mesoscale forecast model, for Saturday afternoon through tonight and Sunday:
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The snow could be mixed with a little rain this afternoon over southwestern Minnesota.
Snow amounts should be one inch or less, but parts of western Wisconsin could see a couple of inches.
Here is the snow potential, courtesy of the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service:
Snow cover
We start our weekend with very little snow on the ground over most of Minnesota.
According to the Minnesota State Climatology Office:
As of December 2, nearly all the snow that fell with the November 18th blizzard has melted, with a few pockets of snow remaining where the snowfall was the heaviest. Much of Minnesota is free of snow cover.
The weekly snow depth map from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources illustrates the lack of snow cover:
The snow that falls this weekend won't add much to our snow depth, but it will start to look a little more like December in parts of Minnesota.
A 30s weekend
Our average high temperature is 31 degrees right now in the Twin Cities.
Saturday highs will be in the 30s over central and southern Minnesota:
Some spots in southwestern Minnesota will see highs in the mid to upper 30s.
Northern Minnesota should see temps top out in the upper 20s.
On Sunday, temps will be a few degrees warmer in most spots.
We're expecting highs in the upper 30s over most of southern Minnesota:
Much colder Tuesday through Friday
We will go from afternoon temps in the upper 30s and lower 40s on Monday afternoon to falling temps through the day on Tuesday. Our afternoon temps on Wednesday will be in the upper teens to around 20.
NOAA's Global Forecast System model shows the cold air spreading over Minnesota on Tuesday and Wednesday:
And it'll also be windy Tuesday and Wednesday, so wind chill temps are likely to be below zero at times.
That'll feel very wintry!
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.