Snow Thursday night through early Saturday, followed by first dangerous cold of the season
Friday: Forecast First Alert for heavy snowfall and blowing and drifting snow (mainly out of metro) possible. Heavy snowfall is more probable south and east where Winter Storm Watches are in place Thursday night through early Saturday morning. There’s some potential that this higher range could push towards I-94, but right now southern Scott, Dakota, St. Croix and all of Pierce and Goodhue counties stand a better chance of seeing the higher totals listed in the paragraph below.
Saturday: Forecast First Alert for dangerous cold and blowing and drifting snow (strong winds and arrival of first dangerously cold forecast of the season for Minnesota/western Wisconsin)
Sunday: Forecast First Alert for dangerous cold, wind chills down to near -30° to -35° Sunday morning in the metro, even colder west and northwestern MN
Light scattered snow showers stay likely tonight through midnight, tapering to flurries overnight. Overnight temperatures are in the mid teens with light winds and some patchy fog. Temperatures are in the upper teens throughout most of your Thursday forecast.
Snow arrives in southern Minnesota first late Thursday and builds northward towards the metro into Thursday night. Scattered snow showers stay in the forecast Friday into Friday night, with the slight chance for light snow early AM Saturday. Central and southern Minnesota could see close to 2″ to 4″ of snow overnight Thursday through early Saturday morning. A Winter Storm Watch is in place across far southern and southeastern Minnesota towards Red Wing, Owatonna, Mankato, Austin and Rochester from Thursday night through Saturday morning. Areas under the watch stand the best chance for 5″ to 8″plus inches from Thursday night through Saturday morning. That being said, there is still a lot of computer model guidance disagreement on track and totals, so you’ll want to stay up to date with the forecast.
Dangerous cold arrives Friday night into Saturday, with blowing and drifting snow causing dangerous travel Friday night into the weekend (especially outside of the metro). Wind chills Saturday into Sunday are down to -20° to -35° at times due to frigid temperatures and strong winds.
Wren