Rain for Minnesota, North Dakota will get snow

A strong low pressure system will track northward along Minnesota's western border from Sunday night through Monday.

If you're in Minnesota and don't like to shovel November snow, that is a good storm track!

Minnesota will be on the warm side of this storm, with periods of rain Sunday night and Monday.

In the colder air, over western and central North Dakota, heavy snow is expected.

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The Bismarck, ND office of the National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings for much of North Dakota:

rt1127warn
NWS Bismarck, ND

Here are some warning details, posted Sunday evening:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND

646 PM CST SUN NOV 27 2016

...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR MOST OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH

DAKOTA TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING...

.THE FIRST WINTER STORM OF THE SEASON WILL IMPACT WESTERN AND

CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY. RAIN CHANGING

TO A MIX OF FREEZING RAIN...SLEET AND SNOW WILL BEGIN THE STORM

ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA THIS EVENING. PRECIPITATION WILL

CHANGE OVER TO ALL SNOW FOR MOST OF THE AREA AS IT SPREADS ACROSS

THE REMAINDER OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA TONIGHT.

HOWEVER...A MIX IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY

THROUGH MONDAY.

THE HEAVIEST SNOW WILL FALL ACROSS CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA WHERE

8 TO 12 INCHES IS FORECAST...FROM FORT YATES TO BISMARCK TO MINOT

AND THE TURTLE MOUNTAINS. FARTHER WEST FIVE TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW

IS EXPECTED...FROM HETTINGER THROUGH DICKINSON TO WATFORD CITY

AND WILLISTON.

FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET ACROSS THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY WILL MAKE

TRAVEL HAZARDOUS TONIGHT. PRECIPITATION WILL TRANSITION TO A MIX

OF RAIN AND SNOW MONDAY...THEN ALL SNOW BY MONDAY NIGHT. BETWEEN

2 AND 5 INCHES IS FORECAST.

BLOWING SNOW WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD ACROSS THE WEST AND CENTRAL

AS WINDS INCREASE MONDAY...GREATLY REDUCING VISIBILITIES AND

CAUSING DRIFTING.

THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS TO TRAVEL AND

COMMERCE.

Simulated radar

NOAA's North American Mesoscale 4 km resolution forecast model shows this precipitation pattern from Sunday night through Monday night:

rt1127rad2
NOAA NAM 4 km simulated radar, via College of DuPage

The simulated radar is not color-coded for rain and snow, so disregard the fact that it shows green shades over North Dakota.  They will be seeing mostly snow.

Minnesota will see periods of rain through Monday.

Back to the 50s

Our average high temp this time of year is 34 degrees in the Twin Cities.

We could see highs in the 50s on Monday from the Twin Cities through southeastern Minnesota:

rt1128h2

40s will be common elsewhere in our state.

That's impressive warmth for late November!