Winter storm warnings in northern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Due to very dry weather in September and October, many of us welcomed the periods of rain that we saw overnight. 

Most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have periods of rain today, with a few embedded thunderstorms also possible. Colder air works into the low pressure system’s circulation later today. West-central Minnesota and parts of northwestern Minnesota could see a wintry mix, with icy roads possible this evening into Thursday and early Friday.

A winter weather advisory for areas of light freezing rain runs until noon today in western Marshall County and western Polk County of northwestern Minnesota.

A winter weather advisory starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday and runs through Thursday for Traverse and Big Stone counties of west-central Minnesota.

Snow totals over 6 inches, and even a few double-digit snow totals, will be possible in  northwestern Minnesota from tonight into early Friday. A winter storm watch covers northwestern Minnesota and parts of north-central Minnesota, starting at midnight and running through Friday afternoon:

Here are details of the winter storm watch:

The changeover to snow starts Thursday in northeastern Minnesota, where a winter storm watch runs from Thursday morning through Friday night.

Here are forecast snow amounts in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin through Saturday morning:

Southern Minnesota, the Twin Cities and west-central Wisconsin will see mainly periods of rain today and tomorrow, with a few embedded thunderstorms possible. The metro area could see a few flakes early Friday.

Parts of central and northeastern Minnesota, plus northwestern Wisconsin, could see two inches or more of precipitation from today through Friday:

Precipitation includes rain plus the water content of the snow that falls in the north.

We have updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News 

. You can check the MPR News interactive radar display 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows shows the potential precipitation pattern from 4 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday:

NOAA’ High-Resolution Rapid-Refresh (HRRR) model shows a similar pattern, with snow initiating a bit earlier in northwestern Minnesota:

A strong cold front moves across southern Minnesota on Thursday. It could ignite some thunderstorm in the metro area, southern Minnesota, parts of eastern Iowa and western Wisconsin. The NWS Storm Prediction Center shows a slight risk (shaded yellow) of severe weather Thursday and Thursday night in southeastern Minnesota, eastern Iowa and parts of Wisconsin:

Slight risk means that scattered severe thunderstorms are possible. An isolated severe thunderstorm will be possible in the dark-green shaded area, which includes the Twin Cities.

Our Wednesday highs will range from 30s in northwestern Minnesota to 60s in southern Minnesota, the metro area and southwestern Wisconsin.

Thursday highs will happen during the morning hours in many areas, with falling temps during the afternoon. The NAM forecast models shows how the cold air spreads eastward on Thursday:

In the Twin Cities metro area, we could go from 60s late Thursday morning to 30s by late afternoon!

Friday highs will be in the 20s across the northwestern half of Minnesota, with 30s to the southeast:

We may see metro area highs in the lower 30s this weekend.

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

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

Most of Minnesota will see periods of rain today, but a wintry mix is possible in northwestern and west-central Minnesota. Heavy snow and strong winds will affect portions of northern Minnesota Thursday and Thursday night. Temperatures will drop sharply Thursday afternoon in some areas.

Periods of rain Wed.; NW Minn. sees a PM wintry mix, then heavy snow on Thursday

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox