Major winter storm is arriving

A major winter storm that will disrupt travel and close schools today is on our doorstep. Early this Monday morning, rain and mixed precipitation are falling in south-central and southeastern Minnesota while wet snow is beginning to fall in the southwestern part of the state.

Heavy, wet snow will develop across southern and east-central Minnesota this morning. And the wind will pick up.

Blizzard

"Blizzard" is a word that commands attention. A blizzard warning continues for the rest of today for much of south-central and southwestern Minnesota. Areas included so far are Brown, Watonwan, Blue Earth, Martin and Faribault counties -- that is, the area from Mankato to points south and southwest. That area should expect whiteout conditions at times today.

Heavy, wet snow on the way

Heavy snow will expand northeastward throughout Monday, so a large area of winter storm warnings, as shown above in pink, have been posted from Minnesota well into Wisconsin.

By the time the snow winds down Monday night, a foot or more of snow will have fallen on much of the warned area.

The Twin Cities metro area will be right on an unusually-sharp northwestern edge of this storm.  While Farmington in the southeast metro might get a solid foot of snow, some northwestern suburbs might struggle to get a couple inches. The inner core areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul are likely to get something around half a foot. Of course, these specific amounts can change greatly if the storm shifts its track just a bit.

I will be doing extra weather broadcasts on MPR this morning and will post an expanded Updraft blog as time permits.