Some weekend sun, a shot at 50 Thanksgiving week?

The good weather news? The meteorological stars appear to be aligning for mostly hassle-free Thanksgiving travel around the Upper Midwest.

First, we enjoy a blustery and cooler weekend. The trade-off is the sun will shine again Saturday afternoon and most of  Sunday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System model depicts our persistently pesky November cloud shield giving way to more sunshine this weekend.

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NOAA GFS total cloud cover through Sunday via tropical tidbits.

Mild Monday

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Chilly breezes and temperatures in the 30s make the weekend feel like December. Temperatures rebound Monday. Upper 40s are likely in the Twin Cities. Many towns in southern and western Minnesota take a run at 50 degrees Monday afternoon.

NOAA digital forecast numbers for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport via Weather Bell:

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Weather Bell

Drama-free Thanksgiving

So far, the weather maps still look quiet leading up to Thanksgiving. The upper-air maps push a bubble of mild Pacific air across the Upper Midwest Thanksgiving afternoon into Black Friday.

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NOAA

A shot at 50 on Black Friday?

Highs in the 30s in northern Minnesota and 40s in southern Minnesota are looking more likely Thanksgiving Day.

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Forecast Highs Thanksgiving Day via NOAA.

Black Friday still looks very mild, temperatures  push well into the 40s to near 50 degrees across southern Minnesota. Colder air arrives later Thanksgiving weekend.

Here's the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model forecast through Thanksgiving weekend. Long door-buster lines this year.

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ECMWF forecast for Minneapolis via Norwegian Met Institute.

Canadian model: Snow chance next Saturday?

The Canadian model is the outlier for now, but cranks up a low-pressure system next Saturday. This could be a model hiccup. But if it's close, somebody close to home could get a rain to snow scenario Thanksgiving weekend.

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Canadian GEM model via tropical tidbits.

Sioux Falls smoke plume on Doppler

How sensitive is Friday's National Weather Service Dual-Polarization Doppler radar? A prairie grass fire pumped enough smoke into the sky west of Sioux Falls, S.D., Thursday to show up on Doppler.

'Go' for launch?

Conditions look more favorable for the twice scrubbed JPSS1 launch Saturday morning.

Teen climate warriors

I've interviewed some of this group on Climate Cast. It's a remarkable story of  some courageous young people taking a stand for the planet they will inherit from us. Oral arguments in Juliana v. United States will be live-streamed Dec. 5.

Highly skilled Mashable writer Andrew Freedman elaborates.

Puerto Rico: Improvised Doppler

When all you have is meteorological lemons?

Surf Tahoe

Lake Superior Stony Point surfers are envious.