One at a time

The pre-game festivities are about to come to an end. Pieces are beginning to come together for the first round of wintry weather. The primary target area for the initial storm will be northwestern Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas. Heavy snow may accumulate more than six inches north and west from Fargo to Baudette later tonight and Thursday.

Follow the details on this developing weather from the NWS Office in Grand Forks.

Early morning IR satellite imagery paints a large swath of dense cloudcover racing across the western US. You will also notice the enhanced clouds positioned over the middle Mississippi Valley. This moisture will meet up with the energy coming from the west to create the wintry mix in Minnesota tonight and Thursday.

For the Twin Cities, look for temperatures to hoover close to thirty-two degrees overnight. Light freezing drizzle and fog may create travel difficulties later this evening. Drizzle is likely to turn to rain on Thursday with temperatures above the thawing point.

With snow in northwest Minnesota and rain in southeast Minnesota on Thursday, there will likely be a transition area composed of some freezing rain from about Little Falls to the Iron Range.

A lull in the precipitation intensity still appears on the weather maps for Thursday night into early Friday.

I'll fill you in on the New Year's Eve event later this morning.

Here's the preliminary view of the upcomng two weather systems from the Chanhassen NWS Office.

CE