Another wintry storm Friday

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December is ready to forcefully announce itself in the northern half of Minnesota this weekend. 

A potent winter storm takes aim at the northland. Winter storm watches cover all of northern Minnesota, basically along and north of a Fargo, N.D., to Duluth line. 

details for northwest Minnesota from the Grand Forks National Weather Service office.

details for northeast Minnesota from the Duluth National Weather Service office

A potent low-pressure system is moving through the Upper Midwest this weekend. Forecast models are in better agreement Friday regarding a storm track that will place the heaviest snow zone across northern Minnesota late Saturday and Sunday. 

NOAA’s GFS model pushes an arm of light snow through central Minnesota Saturday evening, then blankets the northern half of Minnesota with steadier, accumulating snows Saturday night through Sunday. 

Overall snowfall totals still favors a zone of 5 to 10 inches across most of northern Minnesota. There could be some local totals in excess of 10 inches, especially along the ridge above the North Shore. It appears possible that locations like Lutsen, Minn., and Finland, Minn., could pick up more than a foot of snow with this system. 

The Twin Cities area looks most likely to see occasional rain and snow, with all snow and some lighter accumulation of an inch or two Sunday night. 

Another way of expressing potential snowfall totals is by percentages. Here’s the percent chance of more than 4 and 6 inches of snow from the Duluth NWS office. 

Stay tuned as we watch the evolution of this system through the weekend.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

A significant winter storm is heading for northern Minnesota this weekend. 

NOAA

Duluth National Weather Service

NOAA GFS model 6 pm Saturday to midnight Monday

Winter storm likely brings heavy snow to northern Minnesota this weekend

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