A fresh coating of snow for Christmas Eve

The Upper Midwest has been like a snow globe the past few days and that will continue through Christmas.  A few flakes of snow are likely today, but heavier bursts of snow will be found along the southern shore of Lake Superior.

Northern WIsconsin snow
Snow forecast from the Duluth National Weather Service.

Here are some of the snow reports released by the Duluth National Weather Service late last night. Ashland, Wis., measured 18 inches.

As I flew back from Chicago yesterday there were enough breaks in the cloud cover to view the snow covered landscape notched with rivers and streams and dotted with lakes and groves of trees.

snow depth
Snow depth as of Sunday morning. Image:Midwest Regional Climate Center

As you can see, some locations have been bypassed by the Albert Clippers, but deep snow cover rims Lake Superior.

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Saturday night's storm missed Chicago, but  Milwaukee, Wis., picked up 8 inches of snow Saturday night and Sunday morning.

RECORD EVENT REPORT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE

108 AM CST MON DEC 23 2013

...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM SNOWFALL SET AT MILWAUKEE WI...

A RECORD SNOWFALL OF 8.0 INCHES WAS SET AT MILWAUKEE WI YESTERDAY.

THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 2.8 SET IN 1896.

Saturday night's snowfall
Snowfall from the weekend storm. Image:Midwest Regional Climate Center

It will be a cold start to your day and even a colder start on Christmas eve morning.  Tonight's low temperatures, your wake up temperature on Tuesday, will be well below zero.

Tuesday morning minimums
Overnight lows on Monday night. Image:National Weather Service

While walking through the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Sunday afternoon I spotted this nice display hosted by employees from the Federal Aviation Administration.

FAA display
Image:Craig Edwards

You could track the inbound and outbound flights for MSP airport.

This morning's FAA report from the major airport hubs across the nation show little or no delays caused by weather.

Tracking Tuesday's snowfall,  snow will break out in the eastern Dakotas in the morning and advace across Minnesota and Wisconsin through the day and into Christmas Eve.

GFS Tuesday snowfall
Liquid water content of snowfall on Christmas Eve. With the cold temperatures the snow to water ratio could mean as much as two inches of snow Tuesday afternoon and eve. Image:Globabl Forecast Model from NOAA/College of Dupage.

The Weather Prediction Center has the probabilities of two inches or more about the 50 percent range for large area of Minnesota and western Wisconsin on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Probability of two inches of snow
Image:National Weather Service
Weather map for Tuesday
Image:NOAA

Looking for a thaw as we move into January?  It doesn't appear in our future.

8 to 14 day outlook
Medium range temperature outlook favors colder thn normal temperatures.

The jet stream would also suggest bouts of snow as well as we enter into the new year.

Late December and early January precipitation
Image:Climate Prediction Center/NOAA