Winter storm warning this afternoon through Saturday

First we'll have snow, and lots of it. Then we'll see very cold temps and frigid wind chills.

Winter storm warning

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for much of central and southern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, that runs from noon today to 6 p.m. Saturday:

The warning is for significant snow amounts from this afternoon through the overnight hours, followed by blowing and drifting snow on Saturday.

A wind chill advisory goes into effect at 6 p.m. Saturday and runs to noon Sunday for the same area that has the winter storm warning. Wind chills in the minus 25 to minus 40 degree range are expected Saturday into early Sunday.

There is a wind chill warning for northwestern and west-central Minnesota from Saturday through noon on Sunday for wind chill temps from minus 30 to  minus 45 degrees.

Here are some winter storm warning details, from the Twin Cities NWS office:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN

404 AM CST FRI DEC 16 2016

...HEAVY SNOWFALL EXPECTED FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY

MORNING...

...BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILLS SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY...

.OCCASIONAL LIGHT SNOW AND FLURRIES EARLY THIS MORNING WILL GIVE

WAY TO STEADIER AND HEAVIER SNOW DURING THE LATE MORNING AND

AFTERNOON HOURS. THE SNOW WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY DURING THE LATE

AFTERNOON AND EVENING... AND WILL BEGIN TO TAPER OFF SATURDAY

MORNING. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 6 TO 11 INCHES ARE LIKELY WITH THIS

STORM ACROSS SOUTHERN MINNESOTA AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. AREAS

ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM APPLETON...TO LITCHFIELD...TO THE

TWIN CITIES...TO EAU CLAIRE WILL LIKELY SEE THE HEAVIEST SNOW.

SOME BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW ALONG WITH FRIGID TEMPERATURES

WILL FOLLOW THE SNOW LATER SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO SUNDAY. WIND

CHILLS WILL PLUNGE INTO A RANGE FROM 35 TO 45 BELOW ZERO ACROSS

MUCH OF THE AREA BY SATURDAY EVENING... AND REMAIN IN THAT RANGE

INTO SUNDAY MORNING.

MNZ059>063-066>070-074>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ023-024-161900-

/O.NEW.KMPX.WC.W.0002.161218T0000Z-161218T1800Z/

/O.CON.KMPX.WS.W.0006.161216T1800Z-161218T0000Z/

WRIGHT-HENNEPIN-ANOKA-RAMSEY-WASHINGTON-MCLEOD-SIBLEY-CARVER-

SCOTT-DAKOTA-BROWN-NICOLLET-LE SUEUR-RICE-GOODHUE-WATONWAN-

BLUE EARTH-WASECA-STEELE-MARTIN-FARIBAULT-FREEBORN-ST. CROIX-

PIERCE-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MONTICELLO...MINNEAPOLIS...BLAINE...

ST PAUL...STILLWATER...HUTCHINSON...GAYLORD...CHASKA...SHAKOPEE...

HASTINGS...NEW ULM...ST PETER...LE SUEUR...FARIBAULT...RED WING...

ST JAMES...MANKATO...WASECA...OWATONNA...FAIRMONT...BLUE EARTH...

ALBERT LEA...HUDSON...RIVER FALLS...PRESCOTT

404 AM CST FRI DEC 16 2016

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 PM

CST SATURDAY...

...WIND CHILL WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM SATURDAY TO NOON CST

SUNDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN HAS ISSUED

A WIND CHILL WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM SATURDAY TO

NOON CST SUNDAY.

* EXPECT STEADIER SNOW TO DEVELOP AROUND NOON AND THEN DIMINISH

ON SATURDAY.

* THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL RATES WILL OCCUR BETWEEN 6 PM THIS EVENING

AND MIDNIGHT.

* TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES ARE EXPECTED.

* WINDS GUSTING AS HIGH AS 30 MPH WILL CAUSE AREAS OF BLOWING AND

DRIFTING SNOW ON SATURDAY. IN ADDITION...AREAS OF POOR

VISIBILITY ARE EXPECTED.

* EXPECT WIND CHILLS TO RANGE FROM 25 BELOW ZERO TO 45 BELOW

ZERO BETWEEN 6 PM SATURDAY AND NOON SUNDAY...WITH THE COLDEST

WIND CHILLS OCCURRING AROUND 6 AM SUNDAY.

* THE DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS WILL CAUSE FROSTBITE IN AS

LITTLE AS 10 MINUTES TO EXPOSED SKIN.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WIND CHILL WARNING MEANS THE COMBINATION OF VERY COLD AIR AND

THE WIND WILL CREATE DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES. FROST

BITE CAN OCCUR QUICKLY AND EVEN HYPOTHERMIA OR DEATH IF

PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.

A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SNOW MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER

CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP AN EXTRA

FLASHLIGHT...FOOD AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN

EMERGENCY. THE LATEST ROAD CONDITIONS FOR THE STATE YOU ARE

CALLING FROM CAN BE OBTAINED BY CALLING 5 1 1.

A winter weather advisory for lesser snow amounts and difficult travel conditions includes parts of central and northeastern Minnesota:

Snow amounts

The Twin Cities metro area and much of southern Minnesota could see 2 to 3 inches of snow by 6 p.m., and an additional 4 to 6 inches overnight into early Saturday morning.

Here are possible storm totals, courtesy of the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service:

The winds pick up on Saturday, causing some blowing and drifting of the snow, especially in open areas.

Here is the simulated radar from noon today to noon Saturday, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 4 km resolution North American Mesoscale forecast model:

By the way, ignore the color chart for snow on the lower right. It shows the colors used for different signal strengths that return to the radar, not inches of snow!

You can see updated winter storm information on our severe weather live blog.

Please share your photos and storm reports with our Public Insight Network and we can include them in our coverage.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has current road conditions.

Cold and colder

Highs will reach the teens over southern Minnesota today, then some much colder air moves in on Saturday and Saturday night. Falling temps are expected on Saturday.

Low temps will be colder than 20 below zero over much of Minnesota late Saturday night/early Sunday morning:

Highs Sunday will be below zero over most of Minnesota:

Highs will rebound into the teens over southern Minnesota on Monday, then we see upper 20s Tuesday afternoon:

Those Tuesday high temps will be a bit above normal for this time of year, but not T-shirt weather.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.