Winter wonderland now, 40s again this weekend
It's beginning to look a lot like Minnesota.
Two to four inches of heavy wet snow fell as advertised across the Twin Cities overnight. The super soaker snow is the heavy wet variety with snow:water ratio of about 6:1 at Chanhassen in the southwest metro.
Many main freeways were in good shape this morning. But some spots remain slick, prompting the usual spin-out scenes on MNDOT cams. Take it easy out there Minnesota.
Two for two
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Forecast models handled the first and second wintry storms of the season remarkably well. That made for a highly accurate snowfall forecast for the second time in a week.
Snowfall reports are still coming in. Early reports confirm a general swath of 2" to 4" fell across the metro and much of central Minnesota and along the I-35 corridor toward Duluth.
Low moves east
The low pressure system pulls out today. Looks for the last bands of snow to end from west to east and travel conditions to improve as we move through midday and into the early afternoon hours. Dry high pressure builds on for Thanksgiving Day. Good travel to Grandma's house tomorrow? Something to be thankful for indeed.
Thanksgiving night snow shot
If you linger too long at your Thanksgiving gathering you may run into a mixed bag changing to snow Thursday evening. Overall snowfall could reach another inch of two by Black Friday morning.
Warm weekend
Just like those Black Friday door busters, our wintry wonderland won't last long. Southerly flow and temps in the 40s Saturday and Sunday will turn our temporarily white landscape into a slush fest this weekend.
Sunday night rain
The next potent storm surges north late Sunday. Temperatures look warm enough for mostly rain with this one. Bye bye snow cover?
Here's a quick look at the day to day breakdown through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Low 40s could be conservative this weekend.
NOAA's overnight GFS run cranks out 51 degrees Monday for MSP. We'll see.
Winter returns in December
All indications are a more wintry pattern returns as we turn the page into December, and meteorological winter. The upper air maps suggest a seasonably cold air mass arriving around December 1st.
NOAA's GFS 16-day output brings sub-freezing temps and an air mass cold enough for occasional snow again.
Lakes should begin to ice up for real in early December if these temps verify.
Stay tuned.