Snowfall snarls traffic in SE Minnesota and Wisconsin; cold weekend ahead

Snow developed quickly in south central Minnesota late this morning and expanded into the southern portions of the Twin Cities metro area. Accumulations were less than one inch from Eden Prairie through St. Paul.

Heavier snow occurred in southeast Minnesota and in west central Wisconsin resulting in very slick travel conditions.

The area of snow is forecast to slide quickly east through the afternoon hours, but two to four inches of accumulation is possible before the snow ends in La Crosse, Wis.

At 3 p.m.  3.5 inches of snow was reported in Red Wing, Minn.  More snowfall reports can be found here.

As we say "so long" to the meteorological winter, Mother Nature rolls out a very icy start to March.

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Temperatures will dip well below zero in central and northern Minnesota by Saturday morning.

A swath of snow that was expected to form over southern Minnesota on Saturday now appears more likely for Iowa, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

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Major travel problems are likely to continue on Sunday across the Ohio Valley as a mixture of snow and freezing rain cuts through the region.

If you wish to continue to recall the cold, subzero days of the winter you can read a summary from the Twin Cities National Weather Service on what winter has been like in the metro area.

As of Feb. 27, the average temperature this winter in the Twin Cities is 9.8 degrees. This is the ninth coldest winter on record.

A winter summary for Duluth and International Falls has been prepared by the Duluth National Weather Service Office.

The average winter temperature at Duluth through Feb. 27 was 3.9 degrees which makes it the second coldest winter on record. Records date back to the 1870s. The coldest winter on record at Duluth was in 1874-75 with an average temperature of 3.7 degrees.

The summary for the meteorological winter at Rochester and La Crosse shows the period of December through February may end up being the fourth coldest on record at Rochester.

Bitter cold temperatures are expected on Sunday morning, but some moderation gets underway as we experience some March sunshine.

The most asked question the last few days is, "when is it going to warm up?"  And you well know that I have been stalling on a response.

With some confidence I can predict a noticeable recovery on the thermometer in the middle of this coming week.  Temperatures on Thursday could break the thawing point of 32 degrees, particularly in southwest Minnesota.

But the longer range forecast continues to suggest we will continue to have temperatures coming up short of normal. Here's the Climate Prediction Center's outlook for the second week of March.

The Climate Prediction Center refreshed their outlook for the month of March today. Based on the rather high confidence of colder than normal temperatures the first couple weeks of the month, they project the average temperatures for the month will likely come in below normal for March.

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