Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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Here’s an update on our still evolving winter storm across the Upper Midwest. 

 cover a big swath of Minnesota from the southwest through the Twin Cities into northwest Wisconsin. 

A low-pressure system tracks northeast across Wisconsin through tonight. The air mass is cold enough over Minnesota to produce a mix of freezing rain changing to all snow by this evening. 

NOAA’s NAM 3 km resolution model is typical of those solutions that bring the heaviest snowburst across eastern Minnesota Tuesday evening through the night.

The heaviest snowburst for the Twin Cities will likely occur between the hours of 5 and 10 p.m. Tuesday. Heavier snow will persist in northwest Wisconsin and along the North Shore through midnight into the early a.m. hours Wednesday. 

A warm layer aloft has changed some of the precipitation to freezing rain Tuesday. That will likely reduce snowfall total a bit in the Twin Cities. 

Overall I’m leaning toward the Canadian and European model solutions which suggest between 2 and 5 inches for the greater Twin Cities area by the time snow wraps up around midnight. Lighter snowfall totals will favor the southeast Twin Cities, with heavier totals favoring the north and west.

Heavier snowfall bands will favor a strip from southwest Minnesota into northwest Wisconsin. Significant ice accumulations will also favor southern Minnesota. 

Here’s the updated Twin Cities National Weather Service snow and ice projection.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Winter storm warnings cover much of the Upper Midwest Tuesday. Snowfall totals could reach more than 6 inches in southwest Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin.

Twin Cities National Weather Service

Kathryn Styer Martinez | MPR News

NOAA NAM 3 km model through 1 am Wednesday

Storm update: Evening snowburst likely with 2 to 5 inches for Twin Cities

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