Frigid temperatures this weekend prompt cold weather advisories

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A winter storm moving through the Midwest brings snow across Minnesota Tuesday into Wednesday, but it is a far different snowstorm than last week’s blizzard.

A disturbance brought a few more clouds and a couple areas of light snow and flurries across Minnesota Monday, but now as that moves out, most of the state sees clear skies overnight.  

This allows temperatures to drop 5 to 10 degrees below average by Tuesday morning and putting morning lows subzero for the majority of the state.

Already by Tuesday morning, clouds start moving back across the state ahead of a snowstorm that will impact Minnesota Tuesday into early Wednesday.

The expected timing of the snow is to move into southwestern Minnesota by mid-morning, then spread northeast across the state by late afternoon. 

For the Twin Cities, snow is currently forecast to begin early to mid-afternoon. The center of the storm stays south then east of Minnesota as it moves across the country.

Because of that track, the southeastern edge of the state can expect the heaviest snow at 4 to 6 inches. Then snow gets lighter father north, with northern Minnesota only likely to see 1 to 2 inches. 

For the Twin Cities, snow amounts will likely range from 3 to 5 inches, with the slightly higher totals more likely on the south and east sides of the Twin Cities metro area.

The snow winds down overnight Tuesday and clears most Minnesota by the morning commute Wednesday. However, snow may linger into the Arrowhead through Wednesday afternoon. 

Although snow should be over for most places, including the Twin Cities, by Wednesday morning, the snow on the ground is likely to cause lingering travel problems during the day.

This is a very different storm from last week’s blizzard in a couple significant ways.  

First, this storm does not have extremely highs winds associated with it. During the blizzard, much of Minnesota saw winds gust over 50 and even 60 mph. Tuesday’s storm is expected to only bring breezy winds with occasional gusts over 20 mph, especially in western Minnesota.

Also, the center of the storm Tuesday passes south of the state, instead of directly over Minnesota. Last week, Minnesota got the brunt of the storm, with numerous locations around the Twin Cities and elsewhere getting over 6 inches of snow, and many totals in the Arrowhead over a foot.

This map shows those totals with yellows indicating reports over 6 inches and oranges showing areas that saw over a foot of snow:

During Tuesday’s storm, the heaviest snow should stay south and east of the state. 

So, while the majority of Minnesota is under a winter weather advisory from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning (in purple), much of Iowa and parts of Wisconsin and Illinois are in the elevated category of a winter storm warning (in pink), for snow totals that could reach 8 or 9 inches in some areas.  

Travel into those areas expecting higher impacts will be treacherous Tuesday and Wednesday.

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Nicole Mitchell 

Author

A winter storm moving through the Midwest brings snow across Minnesota Tuesday into Wednesday, but it is a far different snowstorm than last week’s blizzard.


A snowstorm hits Tuesday, but the heaviest snow misses Minnesota

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