Wet weekend; Election Day weather update
Timing is important.
As a meteorologist, I'm well aware that soggy weekend weather isn't very popular. I'd prefer sunshine and warm temps this weekend, but that's not in the cards.
Here goes.
Rain and snow chances
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The best chance of Friday showers is expected to be from west-central and southwestern Minnesota into the southeast.
Most of the Twin Cities metro area should stay dry into this Friday afternoon, with a passing shower possible in the southwest corner of the metro.
The weekend looks wet:
A large area of rain will spread over southern and central Minnesota on Saturday, and linger through Saturday night. Central Minnesota will probably see some flakes mixed with the snow on Saturday and Saturday night.
Rain and snow showers are possible in many areas Sunday morning.
Places like Alexandria, Brainerd and Hinckley could see some light snow accumulation Saturday, Saturday night and early Sunday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Friday night through Sunday morning:
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 rain or snow.
Updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
Temperature trends
Minnesota highs will be mainly in the 40s Friday afternoon, with some 30s in the far north.
Similar highs are on tap for Saturday:
And also on Sunday:
Twin Cities metro area highs are expected to be in the middle 40s this weekend, followed by upper 40s on Monday, mid-40s on Tuesday and around 40 on Wednesday.
Election Day weather
As you probably know, Election Day is this coming Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Highs in the 40s will be common across Minnesota on Tuesday, with some 30s in the far north.
It looks like eastern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro area, will have a chance of showers on Tuesday.
Twin Cities weather records show quite a variation in weather conditions on Nov. 6:
Our record Nov. 6 Twin Cities high temp is 73 degrees, and our coldest Nov. 6 high temp was 14 degrees, in 1991.
There was plenty of snow on the ground in early November of 1991, due to the Halloween blizzard.
This year's projected Twin Cities high temp in the middle 40s won't be too far from our average Nov. 6 high of 47 degrees.
Our record Twin Cities snowfall on Nov. 6 is 1.6 inches, in 1933.
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.