Here is the good news for Thanksgiving travelers: No major snowstorms are in sight.

But it won't be totally smooth sailing, either. The Twin Cities should see a couple inches of snow beginning Tuesday night while places to the north and west of the metro could see up to 4 inches as the first of two weak storm systems moves across Minnesota.

The second is expected Thursday night, just as Thanksgiving leftovers are put away.

A large portion of Minnesota will see precipitation fall during the day and into the evening on Tuesday, said forecaster Jake Beitlich, but what form it will take depends largely on the location of the storm track. Rain will fall in far southern Minnesota along the Interstate 90 corridor, but north of there a wintry mix of rain, snow and freezing rain is expected to turn roads slick across south-central Minnesota up to the Twin Cities.

"This system is nothing like what we had earlier," Beitlich said, referring to last weekend's blizzard that covered parts of northeastern Minnesota with more than 2 feet of snow. "It's tricky with temperatures right around the 32-degree mark" making it hard to predict exactly how much snow will fall.

Whatever precipitation falls should wrap up by Wednesday morning, and sunny conditions with light winds and temperatures in the mid-30s should make travel on the day before Thanksgiving manageable, Beitlich said.

A second system will move into the region on Thanksgiving evening, this time taking aim at the southern half of Minnesota and the Twin Cities. That one won't have as much moisture to work with as Tuesday's storm, Beitlich said, but still could deliver a couple of inches of snow, he said.

"The last one, we told people not to go out if they don't have to," Beitlich said. "This one won't be a deal-breaker, but people should still take it slow."

One place that doesn't need any more snow is Leader, Minn. The tiny community in the Arrowhead region led the way with 25 inches during the blizzard that marched across Minnesota on Friday. Not far behind was Orr with 24.8 inches, followed by Tower with 19 inches and Grand Rapids with 17.5 inches, according to the National Weather Service in Duluth.

On the other end of the scale, snowfall measured only 1 inch in Brooklyn Park, 0.8 inches in Maple Grove, Chanhassen and Waconia. Just 0.3 inches were recorded at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

But snow lovers missed by Friday's storm "will have white lawns by Wednesday."

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768