A bit milder for Thanksgiving; 40s Friday, with rain at times
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Many Minnesotans will be on the road at some point between Thanksgiving and Sunday evening.
The weather looks pretty good in most areas, assuming that the Sunday snow stays to the south.
More on that shortly.
Temperature trends
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Our Thanksgiving Day highs should be mainly in the 30s across Minnesota, with some lower 40s southwest and a few upper 20s in the northeast.
Most spots in the Twin Cities metro area should reach the upper 30s on Thanksgiving, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a 40 degree reading somewhere in the metro.
Much of Minnesota will have highs in the 40s on Friday, with 30s to the far north:
Most of Minnesota will peak in the 30s on Saturday, with some lower 40s southeast:
Twin Cities metro area highs are expected to reach the lower 40s on Friday, followed by upper 30s Saturday and lower 30s on Sunday. We'll probably begin next week with highs in the 20s.
Rain and snow chances
Most Minnesotans won’t see any rain or snow on Thanksgiving, but there could be some lake effect snow showers along the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Minnesota and western Wisconsin will see some rain showers at times on Friday. The best chance of showers in the Twin Cities metro area will tend to be Friday afternoon and Friday evening. The rain could mix with a few snowflakes Friday night.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Friday and Friday evening:
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 and snow.
As always, updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you will also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.
Saturday looks like a fairly quiet weather day, then far southern Minnesota could see some snow on Sunday.
There is a “cone of uncertainty” for the track of the low-pressure system passing to our south on Sunday:
The shaded area indicates how far north or south the center of the low-pressure system could track, based on various forecast models.
The heaviest snow would be to the north of the track.
It looks like Iowa and southern Wisconsin could see the heaviest snow Sunday and Sunday night, but check later forecasts for updates.
At this point I’d say that the Twin Cities metro area will have a chance of snow showers on Sunday.
Cold Thanksgiving in the Northeast
New England is going to have a very cold Thanksgiving.
This says it all:
These Thanksgiving Day high temps would even seem chilly if they were happening in Minnesota:
They're expecting a Thanksgiving high temp of 21 degrees in Boston, which is way colder than their average Nov. 22 high temp of 49 degrees.
And Boston area wind chills will be below zero Thursday morning!
At least that chill won't last too long; they're expecting highs in the mid 40s on Saturday.