Brief cold snap this weekend, warmer early next week, snow chances Wednesday

Happy Saturday everyone!

Clouds continue to overspread southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa this afternoon. The clearing line is just off to our west, however, a surge of cloud cover is tracking northward out of Iowa, increasing the likelihood of continued cloud cover into tonight.

Once skies begin to clear, temperatures will drop quickly, down into the upper teens across most of the area, thanks to northwesterly winds transporting colder air southward. Winds could gust up to 40 mph through the evening hours, and diminish slightly overnight.

High temperatures on Sunday will be near average for this time of year, right around 40F. Any morning cloud cover will depart the area, with winds remaining a bit breezy out of the northwest, gusting up to 25 to 30 mph at times.

Temperatures climb dramatically for the start of the workweek, with highs in the 60F’s across the area, thanks to strong southerly winds sustained between 15 to 20 mph, gusting up to 30 mph at times. Continued southerly flow continues into Tuesday, resulting in high temperatures in the low to mid 60F’s across southeastern Minnesota, and mid to upper 60F’s across northern Iowa.

A trough of low pressure will approach Minnesota and Iowa Tuesday night into Wednesday. Upper level divergence will be positioned right over northeastern Iowa through the day Wednesday, with plenty of moisture transport northward ahead of a developing low pressure system.

This will result in a chance for widespread precipitation across most of our area, with a better chance for more appreciable precipitation accumulations further southeast. Temperatures Tuesday night and Wednesday will be much cooler, in the 30F’s for most, with a few 40F’s possible Wednesday.

Cooler temperatures Wednesday will result in precipitation in the form of snow. Model guidance continues to advertise the chance for heavy snow in a narrow band across the area, but differs on exactly where that snow band will be. For now, a few inches of snow are possible, especially along and south of I-90. Will continue to monitor the progress of this system over the next few days. One thing we do know, is that winds will also be quite breezy, gusting up to 40 mph at times.

High temperatures will be near average to end the week, in the low to mid 40F’s, under partly cloudy skies Thursday, and a bit more cloud cover for Friday.

With that said, Monday and Tuesday are going to be the best days of the week, with partly cloudy skies and highs in the 60F’s! Talk about some good luck!