Snow tapers; winds kick in

Snow will taper in the metro between now and midnight.

As we look forward overnight and into Friday the bigger factors are wind and cold. Expect gusty north winds to over 30 mph and blowing and drifting snow. Roads will remain slick to icy into the AM drive time.

Check up on the latest snow totals. We have some impressive amounts with this storm.

This was a pretty amazing system. It came in pretty much as advertised with very few surprises. The biggest surprise was that it came in about 1-2 hours later than I expected on Wednesday. Like a late guest to a party with a grand arrival, it made up for lost time in a hurry with an intense convective snow band.

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Minnesotans from Lakeville to Owatonna, Waseca, Faribault, Austin and Rochester experienced the first thunder of the year. Convective snowbursts produced an incredible 2.9" in one hour at the UM St. Paul campus. An astounding 4" was recorded by a trained NWS spotter in Lakeville in one hour today. I don't know if that is a record, but it is the most snow I can remember in an hour in any storm in the metro.

Take it easy on the roads late tonight and tomorrow morning. Enjoy a cold but quiet weekend, and then we warm up early next week. Please feel free to reply with comments on your storm experience and your snow totals as things wind down.

Weather geeks unite!

PH