Wren’s Friday Evening Forecast

A Blizzard Warning is in effect tonight through early Saturday morning for the Twin Cities and and all of central and southwestern Minnesota into western Wisconsin. Most of central Minnesota will see close to half a foot of snow, with temperatures falling into the mid-to-upper teens throughout most of the blizzard-warned counties (more so low-20s for the Twin Cities). I mention these lows, because with the colder air building in tonight with strong winds out of the northeast to northwest overnight, snow will start to stick and accumulate even as early as 9-10 PM tonight. Prior to 9 PM, we’re looking at evening scattered storms (isolated strong with hail and gusty winds), then a wintry mix mainly between 7-9 PM.

Snowfall rates will be impressive overnight nearing 2″ per hour at times. Most of the metro will see 6″-9″ of snowfall, with higher totals likely especially for the east metro into western Wisconsin. Winds stay brutally strong overnight and continue to strengthen late tonight, with sustained winds of 25-35+ mph, and gusts near 45-50 mph. These strong winds are why we are looking at blizzard conditions with blowing and drifting snow leading to widespread whiteout conditions. Travel will not be advised tonight into Saturday morning.