Cold Friday, a wintry mess Saturday, warmer early next week

Happy Friday everyone! It is way too COLD out there this morning across southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa, with temperatures in the single digits below 0F once again and wind chills in the negative single digits as well.

It remains cold through Friday, but not as cold as Thursday was, with highs in the teens across the area. However, wind chills will remain trapped in the single digits into the afternoon thanks to breezy southeast winds around 5-10 mph, gusting up to 20 mph at times.

Clouds increase throughout the day, signaling the approach of the much anticipated wintry mess arriving across the area this weekend. Snow, freezing rain and sleet become likely from southwest to northeast late evening through around midnight, with wintry precipitation overspreading the entire area early Saturday morning.

Freezing rain, snow and sleet remains likely through the day Saturday, with high temperatures hovering right around 32F. This makes the forecast rather tricky in regards to pinning down exact precipitation type. Unfortunately, model guidance is still quite wishy washy on how much of the precipitation will be freezing rain and how much will be snow. With that said, prepare for all types of precipitation, and slick to very slick roadways, and potentially hazardous travel through Saturday evening.

Precipitation comes to an end by midnight Saturday night, with clouds hanging around through the remainder of the weekend. Temperatures warm on Sunday, into the upper 30F’s, with the potential for fog across the area, thanks to light winds and higher moisture amounts in the air ahead of another approaching storm system.

A few scattered rain showers will be possible Monday morning across the area, but the best forcing for any significant precipitation passes us by to the north, south and east. Therefore we are not looking at any washout Monday, with cloudy skies sticking around through the day, and highs once again in the upper 30F’s.

We cool down the remainder of the week, with highs in the 20F’s, and partly cloudy skies. May have to add a snow chance or two here and there but details are very limited at this time as well as snow chances.