Periods of rain and drizzle; wintry mix north

Another gray day. At least the mild weekend temps will shrink the remaining ice on our side streets and driveways.

Extended thaw

Highs in the mid and upper 30s will be common today across Minnesota, with similar high temps on Sunday:

rt122h

This is an impressive January thaw.

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The lowest temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Friday was 34 degrees.

I expect the Twin Cities temperature to stay above 32 degrees throughout this weekend.

According to the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service, the longest January period above 32 degrees in Twin Cities weather records was 3 days.

That happened twice; Jan. 21 through Jan. 23, 1909 and Jan. 25 through Jan. 27, 1944.

After this weekend, we will likely have tied the January record of 3 consecutive days above 32 degrees in the Twin Cities, and we might also stay above 32 degrees on Monday.

Fog lingers

Areas of dense fog will linger into early afternoon over much of central and southern Minnesota.

A dense fog advisory is in effect until 1 p.m. for most of central and southern Minnesota, including the southern part of the Twin Cities metro area:

rt121adv4
NWS Twin Cities

Here are some advisory details:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN

851 AM CST SAT JAN 21 2017

MNZ041>044-048>051-054>059-064>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-211900-

/O.EXT.KMPX.FG.Y.0003.000000T0000Z-170121T1900Z/

DOUGLAS-TODD-MORRISON-MILLE LACS-POPE-STEARNS-BENTON-SHERBURNE-

LAC QUI PARLE-SWIFT-CHIPPEWA-KANDIYOHI-MEEKER-WRIGHT-

YELLOW MEDICINE-RENVILLE-MCLEOD-SIBLEY-CARVER-SCOTT-DAKOTA-

REDWOOD-BROWN-NICOLLET-LE SUEUR-RICE-GOODHUE-WATONWAN-BLUE EARTH-

WASECA-STEELE-MARTIN-FARIBAULT-FREEBORN-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF ALEXANDRIA, LONG PRAIRIE, LITTLE FALLS,

PRINCETON, GLENWOOD, ST CLOUD, FOLEY, ELK RIVER, MADISON, BENSON,

MONTEVIDEO, WILLMAR, LITCHFIELD, MONTICELLO, GRANITE FALLS,

OLIVIA, HUTCHINSON, GAYLORD, CHASKA, SHAKOPEE, HASTINGS,

REDWOOD FALLS, NEW ULM, ST PETER, LE SUEUR, FARIBAULT, RED WING,

ST JAMES, MANKATO, WASECA, OWATONNA, FAIRMONT, BLUE EARTH,

AND ALBERT LEA

851 AM CST SAT JAN 21 2017

...DENSE FOG ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM CST THIS

AFTERNOON...

* VISIBILITY...ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS.

* IMPACTS...LOW VISIBILITIES WILL RESULT IN DIFFICULT DRIVING

CONDITIONS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A DENSE FOG ADVISORY MEANS VISIBILITIES WILL FREQUENTLY BE

REDUCED TO LESS THAN ONE QUARTER MILE. IF DRIVING...SLOW DOWN...

USE YOUR HEADLIGHTS...AND LEAVE PLENTY OF DISTANCE AHEAD OF YOU.

Fog is likely to redevelop tonight and linger into Sunday.

A winter weather advisory for a wintry mix covers much of northeastern Minnesota until 10 a.m. today.

Rain and a mix

Periods of rain and drizzle are expected today and this evening over southern Minnesota, with a wintry mix of rain, light freezing rain, sleet and snow possible over central and northern Minnesota.

There's a chance of scattered drizzle and rain on Sunday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern this weekend:

rt121fcstsfc
NOAA NAM model simulated radar from noon today through Sunday, via tropicaltidbits

Monday looks mainly dry, and we could see peeks of sun by Monday afternoon!

Snow possibilities

This is a rough weekend for snow-lovers.

Our snow cover is likely to shrink.

Here's the snow depth map that was published this week by the Minnesota State Climatology Office:

rt121snowd
DNR/MN State Climatology Office

The green shaded area indicates 4 to 8 inches of snow on the ground. A lot of that snow cover in central and southern Minnesota will shrink dramatically this weekend.

Many spots in northern Minnesota will still have decent snow cover after this warm stretch.

There's a good chance that central and southern Minnesota will see some new snow on Tuesday and Wednesday.

NOAA’s Global Forecast System model shows a low pressure system tracking just to our south next Tuesday and Wednesday:

rt121fcstsfc2
NOAA GFS precipitation next Tuesday through Wednesday, via tropicaltidbits

We could get enough snow to shovel, check back for updates.

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.