A chilly Thursday; snow chance returns Friday afternoon

At least there aren't any mosquitoes!

I said that to the mailman yesterday as he walked by, and he gave me a grin and a thumbs up.

Snow season 

Wednesday's two-tenths of an inch of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport brought our season snowfall total to 3.1 inches.

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Our snowfall total in the Twin Cities metro area is now 9.2 inches below normal for this point in our snow season.

St. Cloud, Minn., is currently 3.6 inches below normal in season snowfall, and Duluth is 2.4 inches above normal.

Duluth has already reported 21.7 inches of snow this snow season, with 10.6 inches of that snow total coming on October 27.

December score sheet

The chilly temps of Tuesday and Wednesday haven't erased the warmth of early December in the Twin Cities metro area.

Our average temperature for the first six days of December sits at 9.2 degrees above normal in the Twin Cities.

When you look at our average daily temp, which factors in the daily high and low temp, the Twin Cities metro area was very warm during the first four days of December:

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NWS Twin Cities

Positive numbers in the “DEP” column show the number of degrees that the average daily temp was above normal on a given day.

Negative numbers indicate colder-than-normal days.

Our average monthly temp will drop a bit over the next couple of days.

Temperature trends

Minnesota highs Thursday afternoon are expected to range from the teens in northern and central Minnesota to the lower 20s in the far south.

Fridays highs will range from the lower 30s in the southwest to the upper teens in northeastern Minnesota:

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Saturday will feature highs in the 20s over most of Minnesota, with teens north:

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The warmest day of the weekend will be Sunday, with most of Minnesota reaching the 30s, and a few lower 40s southwest:

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Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 29 degrees by this weekend, so mid to upper 30s on Sunday are above normal.

Snow chances

Snow is expected to spread over much of Minnesota on Friday, arriving in the Twin Cities metro area around mid to late afternoon.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential snow pattern:

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NOAA NAM simulated radar for Friday and Friday evening, via tropicaltidbits

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.

It looks snow amounts will be light, with an inch or so possible in the Twin Cities metro area.

Some spots in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin could see a couple of inches.

Of course, it doesn't take much snow to cause slick roads.

Wildfire update

Firefighters will be dealing with very strong Santa Ana winds as they try to contain the southern California wildfires today through Saturday:

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NWS Los Angeles

Santa Barbara is among the areas affected:

The wildfire smoke is visible on weather satellites.

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