Storm: Rain, wind, and heavy snow north
That thud you hear is March's other weather shoe dropping. And it's a big sloppy boot up north. Your Wednesday commutes will be impacted, and travel in northern Minnesota will be very difficult to near impassable at times.
If variety is the spice of life, the weather over the Upper Midwest is plenty hot.
Storm headlines
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Winter storm warning: Heavy snowfall in Duluth, Ely and Iron Range.
Winter weather advisory: Brainerd to Rice Lake for 2" to 5" snowfall totals.
Heavy rain totals of 1" to 2"+ in the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota.
Wind advisories for southern Minnesota include Rochester, I-90 corridor.
Powerful cyclogenesis
An interesting low pressure system rapidly deepens early Wednesday then stalls over Wisconsin. The system brings heavy downpours, high winds, and heavy snow to the Upper Midwest Wednesday. The maps are impressive.
Winter storm warning north
Just enough cold air works into the system to turn heavy rain to heavy snow in northern Minnesota. The Duluth NWS has hoisted winter storm warnings for a big chunk of real estate north of Hinckley. Tobies anyone?
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...DULUTH...SUPERIOR
418 PM CDT TUE MAR 15 2016
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM WEDNESDAY TO 7 AM CDT THURSDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DULUTH HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM WEDNESDAY TO 7 AM CDT THURSDAY.
* LOCATIONS...THE TWIN PORTS AND SOUTH SHORE OF LAKE SUPERIOR...INCLUDING INTERSTATE 35 AND HIGHWAY 2.
* TIMING...RAIN CHANGES TO SNOW LATE TONIGHT WITH MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW PERSISTING MUCH OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO END LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT OR EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. THE MOST INTENSE SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED FROM THE MORNING COMMUTE INTO MID AFTERNOON.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...10 TO 14 INCHES.
* ICE ACCUMULATIONS...UP TO A TENTH OF AN INCH.
* VISIBILITIES...A QUARTER TO A HALF MILE IN HEAVY SNOW.
* IMPACTS...SNOW WILL COMPACT TO ICE RESULTING IN EXTREMELY SLICK ROAD CONDITIONS. HEAVY WET SNOW WILL ALSO ACCUMULATE ON TREES AND POWER LINES...AND COULD RESULT IN TREE DAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGES.
* WINDS...NORTHEAST 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 35 MPH...STRONGER NEAR LAKE SUPERIOR.
Duluth: Snow Bull's Eye?
Batten down the hatches Duluth. This looks like a direct smack from plumes of sloppy wet sticky snow blasting in off Lake Superior. Here's the latest totals map from the Duluth NWS.
Twin Cities: Rain to a little slush
This is mostly a rain event for the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota. Enough cold air works into the metro late Wednesday into Thursday morning to change rain over to some wet slushy flakes. A slushy coating is possible by Thursday morning, especially in the northeast metro. Rain, wind, slush? Sounds like a classic Minnesota March Swedish weather smogasbord.
High wind warnings are up for Iowa and Wisconsin, wind advisories for the I-90 Corridor cities.
Quiet but cold the rest of the week
After Thursday things quiet down into the weekend. Temps dip below the freezing mark again.
The longer range forecast suggests a warming trend in the last days of March as Pacific winds blow again.
Temps pushing 70 again as April nears? That could be the real start to our early spring.
Stay tuned.