Cooler but still well above normal this week

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First the snow, now the cold. Wednesday will be well below normal by 10-20 degrees with highs mostly in the 20s. We’ll see gradually warmer temps into the weekend with a couple of rain and snow chances.

Multiday snowfall totals from the storm have come in at a foot to almost 2 feet for a large area from the Twin Cities north and northeast. 

Below is a smoothed out analysis of the three-day snowfall. In the Twin Cities we saw 12.1 inches of snow from this storm — 8.2 inches on Sunday and 3.9 inches on Tuesday. Several locations in Duluth and Two Harbors came in at 21 or more inches. 

While the snowfall gets all the attention, and it certainly was noteworthy, the liquid equivalent moisture was a critical feature that was desperately needed. 

In the Twin Cities, we saw a total of 2.32 inches of liquid equivalent precipitation. About 1.17 inches of that alone was plain old rainfall, mostly on Monday into Monday night. In the Twin Cities, we’re now above normal by about 0.21 of an inch for precipitation, year to date. 

Duluth and Rochester are just about one-quarter inch below normal now. It was the wettest period in the Twin Cities since late September rains began to temporarily break last summer’s drought. 

Chilly Wednesday and Thursday, then warmer 

It’s definitely chilly Wednesday with below-normal temperature readings by 10-20 degrees. Highs will be mostly in the 20s, but we’ll have a northwest breeze making it feel like it’s near or below zero Wednesday morning.

We’ll have more sun in southern Minnesota, but northern Minnesota will remain cloudy.  Scattered snow showers persist in northeastern Minnesota with some additional accumulation. 

Up to a few more inches are possible in portions of northeastern Minnesota Wednesday.

A winter weather advisory is posted through the day for the northeastern part of the state due to the lingering snow showers and accumulations. 

Look for another cold night with lows in the teens and single digits Wednesday night.

Wind chill values will again be frigid early Thursday with many locations forecast to feel below zero.

Thursday will still be chilly but slightly warmer. We’ll see temperatures closer to normal for Friday and the weekend. 

The warming trend continues into Friday and the weekend when much of southern Minnesota will see highs in the 40s, gradually melting our snowpack.

A couple disturbances ahead and much warmer air next week

We’ll be on the watch for the next disturbance to bring some scattered rain and snow showers Friday night to the region. 

While we’ll likely see a few rain showers, potentially mixing with snow in southern Minnesota, it could be mostly snow showers north with potential accumulations. 

Another disturbances comes through Sunday night into Monday. Neither of these systems look to be big storms however. 

We should be considerably warmer next week, especially late in the week. The consensus in the forecast models is for 50s right now with possibly some 60s.

If you’re really hoping for warm weather, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model offers highs in the 70s by Thursday next week. It’s an outlier however at this point. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Sven Sundgaard

Author

First the snow, now the cold. Wednesday will be well below normal by 10-20 degrees with highs mostly in the 20s. We’ll see gradually warmer temps into the weekend with a couple rain and snow chances. 

First the snow, now cold. Wednesday will be well below normal by 10-20 degrees with highs mostly in the 20s. We’ll see gradually warmer temps into the weekend with a couple rain and snow chances.

Chilly couple of days before gradual warming

Go Deeper.

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