A winter storm hits Minnesota with up to 6 inches of snow
Expect a slow commute Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning
Updated: 8:51 a.m.
A winter storm brings snow across the state Tuesday into early Wednesday, with the highest accumulations in southern Minnesota. Most of the state is under a winter weather advisory. The second half of the week turns much quieter, with a seasonable start to the new year.
Tuesday’s snowstorm
Much of Minnesota started Tuesday with below average cold thanks to clear skies overnight.
Because of a persistent southerly flow Tuesday brought by a winter storm moving south of us, temperatures warm into the 20s for almost the entire state.
Some of the highs will be set in the evening hours as temperatures hold fairly steady through the overnight and may even rise slightly in a few places.
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As mentioned, the center of the storm stays south of Minnesota as it moves across the country, but it spreads a broad area of snow to its north.
Given the track of the storm, the heaviest snow stays south of Minnesota and instead impacts Iowa and southern Wisconsin with up to 9 or 10 inches possible.
For Minnesota, the southeastern edge of the state can expect the most snow at 4 to 6 inches. Then snow gets lighter father north, with northern Minnesota only likely to see 1 to 2 inches.
In 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 Metro.
Fortunately, winds stay relatively light, with winds only gusting into the 20-mph range in western Minnesota, and into the teens elsewhere. This means blowing snow is not a significant concern.
Timing
The snow is expected to move into southwestern Minnesota by mid-morning, then spread northeast across the state by late afternoon. For the Twin Cities, snow is forecast to begin in the early afternoon.
This means there will be snow during the Tuesday evening commute that will make the drive slow and potentially treacherous in spots.
Here is an animation showing the expected timing:
The snow winds down overnight Tuesday and clears most of Minnesota by the morning commute Wednesday, although some snow likely lingers in 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 morning commute.
Because of the snow potential and impacts to travel, the entire state, except the very northern edge, is under a winter weather advisory from Tuesday into early Wednesday.
Extended forecast
After the snow moves out early Wednesday, the state stays stuck under mostly cloudy skies, with the clouds slowly clearing late day. Highs will be seasonable with teens north and 20s south.
More widespread sunshine returns by Thursday, and most of the state can expect highs in the 20s from Thursday through the weekend, which is above average for northern Minnesota.
Skies also stay mostly dry, although a storm tracking south of Minnesota will bring back a few more clouds Friday and may clip the southeastern corner of the state with light snow.
Here is the Twin Cities forecast through Saturday:
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.