Cold start to the weekend; Valentine’s Day warmth?
As expected, the highest snow totals from Thursday's clipper were over far southern Minnesota.
Snowfall reports include 3 inches at Pipestone, Worthington, Albert Lea, Austin and Grand Meadow and 2 inches in Rochester and La Crescent.
Mankato measured 1.5 inches through Thursday evening.
Additional snow totals will be posted by the National Weather Service as they become available.
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The Thursday night snow total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was only one-tenth of an inch, which qualifies as a light dusting of snow!
Chicago snowstorm
Midway and O'Hare airports both reported almost 5 inches of snow by 6 a.m. this Friday.
It's been snowing all morning, so some locations in the Chicago area could add 4 or 5 inches to their storm totals before the snow tapers off Friday.
Chicago remains in a winter storm warning through noon:
Travelers through Chicago will face delays:
It's a snow day in Chicago:
The Chicago area will see some additional snow Saturday morning and on Sunday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential snow pattern from this Friday morning through Sunday:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of snow.
Temperature trends
Friday afternoon highs will only reach the single digits in about the northern half of Minnesota.
Southern Minnesota will see some highs in the 10 to 15 degree range.
Saturday highs will be mostly in the teens, but some spots in the northwest could top out in the single digits again:
Sunday will be milder, with highs in the lower 20s south and teens in the north:
Twin Cities metro area highs are expected to be in the lower 20s on Monday, followed by mid 20s on Tuesday.
The metro area could reach 30 degrees or even the lower 30s on Wednesday.
Romantics will appreciate the timing of the Valentine's Day warmth.
Our average Twin Cities high temperature is currently 27 degrees, but it reaches 28 degrees on Sunday and it's 29 degrees on Valentine's Day.
We'll probably see metro area highs return to the 20s next Thursday.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.