Brandon Weatherz: Trending cooler before warming through the weekend

Our Thursday starts with slick travel in areas that picked up snow overnight, generally along and south of a line from Minong to Drummond to Saxon. That snow has exited and all that remains is an area of light snow showers south of the Iron Range into southern St. Louis and Lake Co. this morning. A dusting is possible here before snow fizzles out by mid-morning.

Wednesday’s warmth is behind us and we’re settling into cooler conditions to end the week. It’s been almost four weeks since Duluth has observed a temperature below 16°, and the high on Friday will have a hard time reaching past 15°. Temps start off in teens to upper 20s today, but temps hold rather steady with a daytime high of 23° in Duluth. The colder air is driven into the region by a blustery northwest wind around 15 mph. Areas away from Lake Superior fall into single digits tonight the cool pockets of northern Minnesota possibly dipping below zero. Highs on Friday then stay in the teens across the Northland.

The northwest wind and colder air will lead to periods of lake effect snow for the South Shore of Lake Superior today into Saturday, but the bulk of accumulation will stay to our east in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Wisconsin snowbelt communities should generally stay near and under an inch in this period. A minimal round of light snow tries to slide south of the Canadian border Friday night to reach across the Arrowhead into Saturday morning, but any accumulation would stay under an inch. A dry stretch is expected Sunday into the start of next week. Temps trend warmer starting Saturday with highs in mid-20s to low 30s and continuing into Tuesday when highs should be above freezing across the region.