Rain, ice and snow across Minnesota today, wild temp swings ahead

They say all weather is local. That's certainly true across Minnesota today.

Our long anticipated Thursday winter/spring weather system is here. Take your pick of Minnesota weather today. Depending on where you are, there may be fog, rain, ice, snow, dryness, and thunder.

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Icy scene in Duluth at Lake Superior this morning. Image: Duluth Maritime Museum webcam

Here's the breakdown on what to expect across Minnesota today as the system rolls through. First, the headlines.

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The storm

Our powerful low pressure system rolls through today. Here's the latest storm track from NOAA. Click on the map below to roll the loop.

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NOAA

Here's another look at the wind field. Note the multiple low pressure centers, which will converge into one stronger low later today.

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http://hint.fm/wind/

The low delivers a wide variety of weather across Minnesota today. Here's a whip-around from National Weather Service offices around the Upper Midwest.

Twin Cities

Duluth

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Sioux Falls, S.D.

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La Crosse, Wis.

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 Metro: Rain to snow this afternoon

The Twin Cities look warm enough for all rain through midday. As the low pulls by this afternoon, colder winds will shove the critical 850 millibar freezing line through the metro. Look for rain to mix with and change to snow from northwest to southeast across the metro between about 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

That should produce a pretty good 2-4 hour snow burst in time for the evening rush hour. Here's the surface map at 6 p.m. tonight, showing snow from the metro to Duluth and beyond.

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NOAA

Snowfall totals

The heaviest snowfall totals still favor a swath of heavy snow with 3 to 8 inches likely in Minnesota from Morris through Alexandria, Brainerd, Duluth and the North Shore. My read still favors the Twin Cities likely to see a coating to 2 inches of slushy accumulation late today, with the potential for 2 to 4 inches edging into the far north and northwest metro.

NOAA's Global Forecast System output is likely quite overdone, but lays out the coverage for the heavy snow zone.

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wxcaster.com

Bottom line: Heavy snow in western, central and northeast Minnesota today. Rain to snow this afternoon on the Twin Cities. Snow ends from west to eat this evening.

Temp roller coaster ahead

Our long awaited spring-like weekend is still on track. Next week looks cooler, and more chances for rain and or snow loom next Monday and perhaps next Wednesday-Thursday. For once we get some nice mild weather on a weekend.

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Weatherspark

Stay tuned!