Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

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Get ready for big changes in our weather overnight. A flash freeze will plunge temperatures well below freezing across most of Minnesota by Wednesday morning. 

Our rare and unusual heavy February rain event has set a new record for daily precipitation in the Twin Cities. The previous precipitation record for Feb. 14 was 43 one-hundredths of an inch (.43) set in 1950. 

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has already recorded 46 one-hundredths (.46) of precipitation. 

Many locations will pick up from one-half inch to more than 1 inch across Minnesota through Tuesday night.

Cold air is racing into the backside of our rainy low-pressure storm. Rain will change to wind-driven snow from west to east across Minnesota overnight. The Twin Cities area will likely see a transition to snow from west to east in the hours surrounding and after midnight. 

Here’s the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest (18Z) NAM 3 km forecast model run through 6 a.m. Wednesday:

 kick in across western Minnesota Tuesday evening. The combination of high winds over 50 mph and blowing snow will reduce visibilities to near zero at times. Travel will be difficult to impossible in many areas overnight through Wednesday morning. 

Temperatures will plunge below freezing across Minnesota overnight into Wednesday morning. Lows will hover near zero in the Red River Valley with wind chills into the minus 20s possible by morning. 

The rapidly falling temperatures will quickly freeze any standing water. Wind-whipped snow on top of the ice will cause a slick and challenging morning commute for most of Minnesota including the Twin Cities. 

The air mass behind the storm is more typical for mid-February. Highs Thursday will hover in the teens and 20s across Minnesota. 

Temperatures will return to the 30s by this weekend. Next week looks colder again, with a chance for snow by around next Thursday.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

The Twin Cities has set a new daily precipitation record for Feb. 14. 

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