Midweek storm will bring snow, send temperatures plunging

Minnesota’s weather undergoes a drastic change this week, from starting the week with more sunshine and a few 60s, to a storm that brings rain, snow, and highs only in the 30s by the weekend.

Monday and Tuesday

The recent milder pattern, including highs in the 50s and 60s Sunday, continued Monday morning with lows that were mostly in the 30s and 40s, putting them 5 to 15 degrees above average.

Behind a cold front that moved through Sunday, highs Monday will be a couple of degrees cooler, but still in the 50s, which is warm for November.

Tuesday also stays mostly dry and mild for November. Temperatures continue to cool just a couple of degrees, with morning lows in the 30s and highs in the 50s for most, but with a couple more upper 40s north.

Skies will be mostly sunny.

A cold, wet storm

The warmer trend comes to an abrupt end the second half of the week as a strong storm, brings rain, snow and cold air across the state. 

It will still be mild enough Wednesday, with highs in the 40s and a few low 50s south, that as precipitation starts moving across the state, it will mostly be rain. Much of the state can expect at least one-half inch of rainfall with this storm.

Rain spreads west to east Wednesday morning, which means the Twin Cities should begin seeing some rain by midday.

Northern Minnesota will be cold enough early Wednesday for some of the precipitation to come as a wintry mix.

The low pressure and cold front with the storm should move through Minnesota by late Wednesday.

But, with colder air coming in, and moisture forecast to wrap back behind the storm, more of the precipitation should be able to switch over to snow by Thursday, especially in northern Minnesota. Particularly in locations north of the line from Fargo, N.D., to Duluth, areas of accumulating snow are likely. 

There is still some uncertainty with this storm in terms of exact temperatures and precipitation amounts north, which makes a big difference in how much snow could fall, but there may be enough to shovel in a few spots.

We will keep you posted on forecast snow totals as the storm continues to approach.

For southern Minnesota, some snow could mix in Thursday, especially Thursday night, but it is much less likely to stick.

It will also be windy Thursday, with gusts forecast over 20 mph for much of the state and over 30 mph west.

Friday will still be breezy, and any lingering light snow should clear eastward through the morning.

Behind the storm, much colder air takes hold, with most of Minnesota only seeing highs in the 30s next weekend.

Here is the Twin Cities temperature forecast through Friday showing the plunge from mild to below average (the normal high for Nov. 8 is 46 degrees):

Programming note 

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.