Heavy snow, slippery roads as storm blankets southern Minnesota

Updated 1 p.m.

Beware of rapidly deteriorating road conditions Friday afternoon due to snow and poor visibilities. Accidents are already happening:

Snow spreading across much of southern Minnesota by midday will expand in coverage Friday afternoon to blanket the Twin Cities metro area and portions of western Wisconsin.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) forecast model shows the potential snow pattern from noon Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday:

NOAA’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows a similar precipitation pattern:

Driving conditions will deteriorate rapidly as the snow piles up. A shift in the storm track or the speed of the storm will affect snow amounts.

Snow totals highest from southern MN to edge of Twin Cities

Double-digit snowfall totals are possible by late Friday overnight into Saturday morning from the far south metro into southern Minnesota:

The Twin Cities metro area rides the northern edge of the heaviest snow. Far northern Anoka County may see 4 to 5 inches and far southern parts of Scott and Dakota counties could tally 10 inches or more.

Minneapolis and St. Paul look to be in the 7 to 9 inch range by Saturday morning. The heaviest snow band runs from southern Minnesota into southwestern Wisconsin.

The snow will have ended in the Twin Cities by sunrise on Saturday.

Warnings

Winter storm warnings continue Friday and Friday night in southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro area, plus parts of Wisconsin:

Here are details of the winter storm warning:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN 303 AM CST Fri Dec 10 2021 MNZ060-062-063-066-068>070-WIZ015-016-023>028-101800- /O.CON.KMPX.WS.W.0005.211210T1800Z-211211T1200Z/ Hennepin-Ramsey-Washington-McLeod-Carver-Scott-Dakota-Barron-Rusk- St. Croix-Pierce-Dunn-Pepin-Chippewa-Eau Claire- Including the cities of Minneapolis, St Paul, Stillwater, Hutchinson, Chanhassen, Chaska, Victoria, Shakopee, Hastings, Rice Lake, Ladysmith, Hudson, River Falls, Menomonie, Durand, Chippewa Falls, and Eau Claire 303 AM CST Fri Dec 10 2021 ...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 AM CST SATURDAY... * WHAT...Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 6 to 14 inches. * WHERE...Portions of northwest and west central Wisconsin and central and east central Minnesota. * WHEN...From noon today to 6 AM CST Saturday. * IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult to impossible. The hazardous conditions could impact the evening commute. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1. Road conditions can also be found at 511mn.org for Minnesota or 511wi.gov for Wisconsin.

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Updated Minnesota road conditions can be found here. Wisconsin road conditions can be found here.

Dec. 10 record will fall

The highest Dec. 10 snow total in Twin Cities weather records is 2 inches, set in 2016. That record will fall today. This is the easiest Dec. snow record to break: yesterday’s record and tomorrow’s record are much higher:

Twin Cities record snow totals

Dec. 9 10.5 inches, in 2012

Dec. 10 2.0 inches, in 2016

Dec. 11 16.3 inches, in 2010

Today’s snow record is “low-hanging fruit”.

Weekend temps

Our average Twin Cities high is 30 degrees on Dec. 11. Saturday highs will be near 30 in the metro area plus southern Minnesota, with upper 20s north:

Sunday will feature many highs in the mid 30s

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.