Light snow on roads; temps hold nearly steady today
A minor weather system brought a light accumulation of snowfall overnight. The snow in southeast Minnesota will exit the state this morning.
Snowfall totals across southern Minnesota were likely in the 1 to 2 inch range, enough snow to grease up the roadways for the morning commute. Be careful on side streets and braking at intersections.
Typically a clipper-type system will bring in a good dose of cold air this time of year. The lack of a deep fresh snow cover to our north has allowed the air mass to modify. Colder temperatures are on tap for tonight, but will still remain above the seasonal normals.
The normal minimum temperature for Jan. 21 in International Falls, Minn., is 7 below zero. On this date in 2011, International Falls dropped to 46 below zero. The minimum temperature forecast for Thursday morning at the "Ice Box of the Nation" is 3.
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We have relatively short memories about past weather. On Jan. 13 the low was 10 below zero at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Since then, we have been running well above normal on our overnight low temperatures.
During the first part of January, temperatures were running more than 8 degrees below normal. In the last week we have nearly erased that deficit. Figuring in today's expected maximum and minimums, we should be no more than about a degree below normal for January 2015.
A quick moderation in temperatures arrives Thursday night, with temperatures holding steady or perhaps rising a few degrees before daybreak on Friday. Highs are expected to top out in the 30s across a large part of the state on Friday. How about some lower 40s in southwest Minnesota on Friday afternoon!
Above normal temperatures are expected on Saturday before snow arrives Saturday night.
We'll be tracking the potential for an accumulating snow event across the upper Midwest for the weekend. MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner has already offered an initial outlook on the possible snowfall totals in the previous post. This clipper system appears to have a little more punch.
Arctic air is not expected to invade Minnesota in the wake of this system. The coldest air is forecast to settle over the eastern Great Lakes early next week.
Last year, the end of January was bitterly cold in our neck of the woods. The low temperature at St. Cloud, Minn., on Jan. 28, 2014, was 23 below zero. The Climate Prediction Center is painting a more tolerable temperature pattern as we close out January 2015.
