Rain and snow likely Saturday for parts of Minnesota

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A band of rain will move into Minnesota starting after midnight Friday night and pushing southeast across the area through the day Saturday.

This band of rain will provide some areas with snow, and other areas with rain, but will miss spots north of Interstate 94 altogether.

Some snow is expected with this storm because it will likely be heavy enough in spots to cool the atmosphere to freezing. When it rains, it brings a cooling process to the atmosphere around it.

The heavier the rain gets, the faster and further the atmosphere can cool. If the atmosphere is cool and dry enough, these heavy bands of rain can actually overwhelm the atmosphere enough where additional cooling can take place, forcing temperatures down to the freeze mark near ground level. This allows snow to start falling.

This form of snowfall can be heavy, but also incredibly localized, meaning one neighborhood may cool enough to get a bunch of snow, but the neighborhood right next door stays all rain. This can lead to highly variable precipitation over very short distances.

In this particular case, the center and heaviest part of this rain band will likely switch over to all snow producing a heavy, but very narrow band of snow. The exact location of this band is impossible to determine ahead of time with any accuracy. But the areas with the highest probability of getting this changeover are likely south of the metro towards the I-90 corridor. Even if your area receives this band, the very second the accumulating snow is over, temperatures climb back into the 40s melting the snow very quickly.

For the metro, it will likely be mostly rain, with a brief changeover to a snowy mix or even all snow for a short time. Most metro locations likely won’t see any accumulation, but some small slushy dustings or coatings on grassy surfaces, trees, and rooftops will be possible.

The futurecast images above give you a general idea on timing and placement of this band of rain and snow, but the actual results will vary a bit.