Weather whiplash: Blizzard, bitter cold, sudden thaw

Welcome to Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Weather Extremes.

Here you'll enjoy a theater of seasons featuring blizzards, sub-zero arctic blasts, and suddenly mild spring thaws. And that's just this week.

Your local Minnesota Department of Transportation freeway sign will flash how much it costs you to use the HOV lane. Shouldn't MnDOT be paying us to drive on days like today?

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A snowy I-394 this morning. MNDOT

Here's the latest on our snowy barrage today and the prospects for arctic cold this week.

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 Quick hitting storm

It snows most of today in northeast Minnesota, but for the metro this is a quick hitting storm. Snow ends abruptly from west to east around midday today in the Twin Cities and most of central and southern Minnesota.

Here's the final model run from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System before the snow flew. A good 1 to 3 inches in the metro with higher totals from Brainerd, Minn., through the North Shore. Enough to make roads a hot (or cold?) weather mess today.

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NOAA via wxcaster.com

The low pressure system zips through today. Behind it? One more frigid high pressure cell straight from the Arctic Circle. Note that unusual red line to the west Thursday. I've heard that's called a warm front?

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NOAA

Wind and cold next

Recipe for a blizzard. One part snow, two parts wind. Wind gusts ramp up toward 40 mph this afternoon as visibility plummets in western and central Minnesota.

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NOAA

Temps plunge by tonight across Minnesota as one more sub-zero smack rolls south. Two more sub-zero mornings this week in the metro are the last of the season for the Twin Cities metro.

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Weatherspark

Weekend thaw

That warm front on the maps above? It sails through Minnesota with milder Pacific breezes by Friday afternoon. Step 1 in a spring warm up? Temps above freezing this weekend.

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Weatherspark

The Global Forecast System and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model are cranking out much milder temps next week. The GFS is cranking out upper 40s for the metro late next week. The European model is off the charts with 60s gushing in from the southwest next week.

I'm not sure I buy the notion of 60s next week for the metro just yet, but it's nice to think about!

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ECMWF (Euro) Model output from Weatherspark

I think 50s are a distinct possibility next week in the metro and southern Minnesota.

Stay safe on the roads today and bundle up until the warm front arrives Friday afternoon.