Blue Juice Alert: Wednesday thaw, Sunday snow for Milwaukee and Chicago
"If you don't like the weather in Minnesota, just wait 15 minutes." -Anonymous
That age old Minnesota weather adage is in full effect this week. Maybe we should issue sudden weather change alerts.
Temperatures will continue to swing wildly in Minnesota the next 48 hours as air masses battle for control. Our Wednesday thaw will give you and your local city road crews a 6- to 12-hour window to get some ice to slush off the driveway or street before it turns back to a brick of ice again by Thursday.
Here's the detailed hourly breakdown on temperatures Wednesday according to the European model output for Minneapolis.
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But temperatures will tumble Thursday as the next Polar front pushes in. This outbreak will not be as Nordic as what we endured the past two weeks, but it will get your attention. Here's the breakdown of the next cold wave that holds through the upcoming weekend.
Another snowy dusting
The next push of polar air brings another snowy dusting to central and southern Minnesota Thursday and Thursday night. Overall it looks like 1 to 2 inches will be the general snow range. Here's the Global Forecast System 120-hour snowfall output, which hints at some additional snow from Sunday's storm clipping southeast Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Sunday southern travel alert: Snow heads for Chicago
If you are planning holiday travel to Chicago, Milwaukee, eastern Iowa or Kansas City, expect snow on I-35 and I-94 on Sunday.
Most of the models spin up a low pressure center and track it south of Chicago.
That track is usually too far southeast for snow in the metro, but the system may clip southeast Minnesota, and lay down heavy snow from Kansas City through eastern Iowa to Milwaukee and Chicago. Chicago's northwest suburbs to around Lake Geneva and Milwaukee look like ground zero for 6 inches or more at this point.
Right now Saturday or Monday look like the better travel days if you are heading to eastern Iowa, Chicago or Milwaukee.
Stay tuned for any potential track changes on this system.