Metro rides snowy edge of Tuesday clipper

Welcome to the February blahs.

Shades of gray continue today as our weather pattern stays stuck in a mid-winter February funk. Some change would be nice, maybe some bright sun or a blanket of fresh white snow?

It looks like option B for Tuesday as the next Alberta clipper rides in.

Here's  the next weather maker for Minnesota. A low pressure wave rides the weather maps east tonight and sails through Minnesota tomorrow.

The result is an early morning wintry mix, a coating of ice and sleet possible from the Twin Cities south and west before cooling in the lowest mile of our atmosphere changes precip to all snow Tuesday morning.

To the north, it's all snow. A good 3 to 6 inches of fresh snow looks like the sweet spot for this fairly productive clipper.

The system is just coming onshore this morning into the more data rich U.S. upper air balloon network.

Today's model runs should get a more precise handle on storm track and totals. For now, I think the notion of 1 to 3 inches for the metro Tuesday with heavier snowfall north seems most likely.

Bottom line: After a gray and quiet Monday, a wintry mix spreads across southern Minnesota from west to east overnight into Tuesday morning.

Precip changes to all snow with steadiest snow during midday and afternoon hours Tuesday. Both rush hours will be affected Tuesday but more snow will be on the ground by the afternoon  rush. Snowfall totals will be plowable from the north metro into northern Minnesota.

Winter hangs tough

After Tuesday's clipper, another shot of moderately cold reinforcing Canadian air sags south. Another sub-zero morning is on the way for Thursday, then temps recover slightly late this week.

The longer range outlook favors a cold bias for the next one to two weeks as upper winds favor continued northwest flow.

Minnesota rides the chilly western side of the cold in the east, warm in the west weather pattern that we saw much of last winter.

The forecast result is a moderately cold outlook the next two weeks. More frequent systems zipping by in the cold air dome increases the prospects for more snow as we move ahead through February.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agrees with the notion of a overall cold in the eastern U.S. trend the next two weeks.

Boston strong: A top 10 snowy winter?

As expected Boston is getting hammered again today with another 12 to 20 inches of fresh snowfall.

The latest storm should put Boston into the top 10 snowiest winters on record. Did I mention it's only mid-February?