After rainy week, first snowfall possible Saturday

WEATHER

Twin Cities will finally see freezing temps

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Maple trees along Wellesley Avenue in St. Paul’s Macalester-Groveland neighborhood put on a show Wednesday. With leaves — and raindrops — falling this week, the city is asking residents to help keep storm drains clear to prevent localized street flooding. JOHN AUTEY — PIONEER PRESS

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After a rainy work week in the Twin Cities, the metro might see its first snowfall of the season this weekend.

Tuesday’s record-breaking showers — which dumped 1.34 inches at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport — gave way to an overcast Wednesday, and a second round of heavy rainfall was expected to begin late Wednesday night and continue off-and-on into Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Light snow is possible Saturday, said Joe Strus, a weather service meteorologist in Chanhassen. But don’t expect to be building any snowmen just yet.

“Flurries to snow showers, somewhere within that realm,” he said. “We’re not looking at major accumulation.”

Another dusting is possible on Halloween, but it could just as easily fall as rain if temperatures don’t dip low enough.

“It definitely bears watching,” Strus said, adding that he’s not expecting a major winter weather event either way.

That isn’t the case this week in much of North Dakota, where a winter storm warning has been posted until Friday afternoon. Forecasters expect 6 to 9 inches of snow driven by winds gusting up to 40 mph. Far northwestern Minnesota could pick up 3 to 6 inches of snow.

Temperatures are expected to cool in general this weekend into next week. Saturday morning could finally bring the first fall freeze in the Twin Cities. Lows in the upper 20s are expected. Minneapolis-St. Paul typically see the first freeze between Oct. 1-10.

In advance of the additional precipitation, the weather service is reminding people to clear their neighborhood storm drains of leaves and other debris. The public can “adopt” storm drains at adopt-a-drain.org.