20s return on Sunday; snow drought continues
We can see it on the forecast maps, now we want to feel it. I'm talking about a warmup into the 20s.
Temperature trends
Friday afternoon highs will be in the single digits above zero across most of Minnesota, with some spots staying slightly below zero in north-central and northeastern Minnesota.
Lows late Friday night and early Saturday morning will dip into the 20s below zero in far northern Minnesota, with teens below zero in many other locations:
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Some double-digit highs return to central and southern Minnesota Saturday afternoon:
Now the fun part of this forecast.
Most of Minnesota should reach the 20s Sunday afternoon, with lower 30s in the southwest:
Our average Jan. 7 high temperature is 23 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area, so upper 20s would be warmer than average.
We haven't seen a warmer than average high temp in the Twin Cities since Dec. 22!
Twin Cities highs in the upper 20s to around 30 are expected Monday through Wednesday of next week, with highs in the teens next Thursday and Friday.
Cold end to 2017
According to the Minnesota State Climatology Office, our cold weather during the last week of December was noteworthy:
The last week of 2017 will be one of the coldest final weeks of a year for many decades in Minnesota.
The period from Christmas Day to New Year's Eve was the second coldest end of the year in the Twin Cities. Twin Cities had an average temperature of -3.0 degrees F. This made the end of 2017 the coldest in at 132 years. The coldest final week of a year for the Twin Cities record (1872-2017) was in 1886 with a seven day average temperature of -4.7 degrees F.
Snow chances
There's a chance of light snow in northern Minnesota Saturday afternoon, and a chance of snow showers Saturday night for northern and central Minnesota.
The Twin Cities metro area could see a few flurries Saturday evening.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential snow pattern Saturday afternoon into early Sunday:
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 drought
Our Twin Cities season snowfall total sits at only 7.2 inches right now. That is 16.1 inches below our average snowfall total to this point in our snow season.
This meager season snow total into early January happens about 20 percent of the time:
The latest snow depth map from the Minnesota State Climatology Office shows some very good snow cover over northern Minnesota.
The shallowest snow depths are in far southeastern Minnesota and from the Twin Cities metro area westward:
Nor'easter
Some impressive snow amounts were tallied from the storm that hit the east coast on Thursday.
Boston reported a total of 13.2 inches at Logan Airport. 9.8 inches was the final total in New York's Central Park.
The storm surge caused by Thursday's intense winds combined with high tide to create some areas of serious coastal flooding:
The northeast is now dealing with very cold temperatures, which will linger through the weekend.
Sometimes, our pets show us how to enjoy a fresh snowfall:
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.