The weather was more of a mosaic instead of one solid color this year. To me it was a remarkable year for the state and the nation.

We're probably going to be seeing the last of the colder weather in the next couple of weeks.

There will be fresh snow on the ground on Saturday, but it should be clear by the time revelers head out.

We'll see snow after midnight Friday, and then Saturday we'll have snow in the morning and midday.

All of that will be accomplished this weekend after the close of business on Friday, weather permitting -- and it doesn't appear that weather is going to be a problem.

The brawny mix of extraordinary sights-weather, politics, races, imagination, corruption and athletics. They clash and mingle here where the broad prairies that are the world's most fertile collection of farm fields meet the vast Great Lakes that are the world's largest collection of fresh water.