Cold and windy, then another snow chance Tuesday

Updated: 10:02 a.m.

Minnesota is still feeling impacts from a strong weekend snow storm, as high winds and much colder air continue to cause problems.

Monday’s forecast

The strong storm which brought heavy snow to northern Minnesota has cleared east, bringing the snow with it, but not before leaving impressive snow totals in northern Minnesota, where many towns saw over a foot of snow, including Finland at 16 inches, Chisholm at 15, and Bemidji at 14 inches.

While the new snow has cleared, numerous spots, especially around the Arrowhead, are seeing blowing snow due to high winds.

High winds are both blowing snow and creating dangerous wind chills Monday. The highest winds are near the North Shore, where gusts have topped 60 mph, at times.

Around the Twin Cities, the winds are occasionally gusting over 40 mph.

The high winds, significant snow on the ground, and colder air behind the storm have Minnesota still under a couple advisories Monday morning.

Much of northeastern Minnesota is in a winter weather advisory until noon due to the blowing snow and high winds, and blowing snow causing reduced visibility will stay a concern through the day. A wind chill advisory in the northwestern corner of the state goes until 11 a.m. for wind chills down to 30 below,

The highs winds slowly diminish through the day, improving some of these conditions. but the colder air continues to settle in.

Monday morning temperatures range from about minus 10 degrees northwest to 10 degrees above zero in the Twin Cities as of 9:30 a.m.

With the winds, almost the entire state sees wind chills well below zero through the morning.

For northern Minnesota, the coldest air already moved-in overnight and temperatures warm slightly during the day.  In southern Minnesota, temperatures continue to fall a few more degrees by afternoon.

Here are those forecast afternoon temperatures:

Almost all of Minnesota will be sunny by Monday afternoon as skies clear behind the storm.

Extended forecast

Tuesday starts cold with lows below zero north and single digits south. The afternoon will not be as cold or windy as Monday, but highs in the teens north and 20s south will still be about 10 degrees below average.

Another storm passes south of Minnesota during the day Tuesday, but it is far less potent than the weekend storm, and only clips southern Minnesota. It currently appears most snow with that system should remain south of St. Cloud (including the Twin Cities), with totals under an inch.
Temperatures continue their slow recovery through the middle of the week, and by Thursday, there could even be a few 40s south.

Here is the forecast for the Twin Cities showing that trend (then slightly cooler again toward the weekend due to another storm):

Another storm Friday is poised to bring additional snow to the state. There is still some uncertainty as to how developed that storm will get before hitting Minnesota, and that will determine snow amounts.

It does have the potential for several inches of snow if it intensifies significantly before getting to the state. We will keep you posted on the track and amounts of any snowfall here on Updraft and on MPR News as that storm gets closer.

Programming note

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