Snow tapers today; GOES 16 sending amazing images

The season formerly known as winter has returned.

Snow arrived on schedule late last night in the Twin Cities. Roads range from wet to slick across the Twin Cities today, with heavier snows in southern Minnesota and norther Iowa. The morning commute went about as expected with several incidents dotting area Minnesota Department of Transportation cams.

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MNDOT

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Radars are lighting up today across the Upper Midwest. The snow gradually tapers from northwest to southeast this afternoon. Another 1 to 2 inches graces the Twin Cities with heavier totals in southeast Minnesota and Wisconsin.

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Low pressure spins east toward Chicago today. The snow shield gradually fades from northwest to southeast as the low moves away.

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NOAA GFS model via tropicaltidbits.com

Wintry relapse

After setting several records for warmth the past few days during our extended January thaw, a more typical winter weather pattern returns. Our inbound air mass is still above average, but there are some signs colder than average temperatures may return as February arrives. Temperatures flirt with the zero mark in early February on many of the extended temperature outlooks.

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Custom Weather

The upper air pattern shows a glancing blow of cold air around Feb. 1. Not exactly polar vortex cold, but enough to get your attention and keep your ice house above frozen water for a few more weeks.

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NOAA

NOAA's GOES 16: Stunningly clear images coming in

NOAA's newest weather satellite began sending back some amazing images this week.

GOES 16 has reached stable orbit about 22,000 miles above earth near the equator. The Advanced Baseline Imager provides four times greater resolution than previous GOES satellites.

The platform is faster, cranking out images every five minutes over the United States. The early loops show amazing resolution.

GOES 16 should be a valuable tool in severe storms forecasting as early as this summer.