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."
