REGIONAL— The National Climate Prediction is out with its forecast for the upcoming winter and it looks like it could be a snowy one here in northern Minnesota.

While much of the country is expected to see milder temperatures than usual for winter, that’s not the case in Minnesota and the rest of the Upper Midwest, where forecasters say there’s no clear trend in terms of temperatures this winter. Even average temperatures in northern Minnesota are plenty cold for snow throughout the winter season.

While long-range forecasters don’t see any trend on temperatures this winter in Minnesota, they do expect Minnesota to see more precipitation, which should be good news for folks who like to play in the white stuff. The national winter forecast shows a fairly strong trend for more precipitation cutting across all of Minnesota and much of the rest of the Upper Midwest, although the strongest likelihood for higher precipitation runs across central and southern Minnesota. A prediction for wetter-than-average conditions would be consistent with the weather pattern that has been in place for much of Minnesota for the past several months.

While temperatures in the region have been running somewhat warmer than average since Sept. 1, the area is expected to see a rather noticeable chill set in after milder weather on Saturday. High temperatures next week are forecast to range from the low-to-mid-30s, with overnight lows in the low-to-mid-20s. Cloudy skies, but no significant precipitation, are expected.