Excessive heat warning in effect through Sunday

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At least it gives us something else to talk about besides the gnarly winter weather in Minnesota.

Thursday we wake to a bitterly cold arctic air mass across Minnesota. We’ll bottom out somewhere around  minus 5 in the Twin Cities, but most of Minnesota will shiver through teens below zero with some minus 20s in the far northwest.

Factor in wind chills and it feels like deadly minus 30s across northern Minnesota overnight with minus 20s heading south.

Our bitter air mass eases gradually through Friday. This weekend, temperatures will return to the 30s in southern Minnesota.

The forecast models are hinting at a low-pressure system spinning north from Iowa Saturday. There’s the usual differences in track and intensity, but some sloppy snow or mixed wintry precipitation looks likely on Saturday. 

Here’s the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s depiction of what looks like a wintry mess at 6 a.m. Saturday:

NOAA’s Global Forecast System shows the system spinning northward:

Forecast models are light on snowfall totals on Saturday right now. Here’s NOAA’s digital forecast database snowfall output:

NOAA’s Global Forecast System model is the most aggressive, with a few inches of slush:

We’ll need to keep an eye on this system, but right now it looks like a sloppy snow and ice mix. Temperatures will be around or below freezing, so roads could be an issue on Saturday.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

A wintery weather pattern continues this week.

Subzero Thursday morning across Minnesota. Sloppy snow chance Saturday?

Forecast low temperatures Thursday morning

Subzero Thursday morning across Minnesota. Sloppy snow chance Saturday?

Go Deeper.

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