Next Storm Monday: Vikings “Snow Bowl” 2010?

Get ready for the 7th snowstorm to hit Minnesota in the past 6 weeks.

And this one could make an historic outdoor Vikings Monday Night Football game even more interesting!

"The Bank" is cleared, ready for football...and more snow! Check out the amazing time lapse video of the massive snow removal operation here.

Yet another fully charged low pressure system is spinning toward Minnesota. It looks like it will hit hard and fast Monday. Winter Storm Warnings have now been issued for much of the region, including the Twin Cities Metro!

With another set of model runs yet to come, here is my best shot at Monday's storm.

The System:

Another hybrid North Pacific/Alberta Clipper type storm hurtling at Minnesota from the west. This one is coming straight east from Montana/Wyoming, and will track through the Upper Midwest Monday.

Storm Timing:

I expect snow to break out in southwest Minnesota by Monday morning, and spread northeast during the day. It looks like snow could spread into the Twin Cities Metro by about lunchtime...somewhere between 10am & 2pm from west to east.

-Snow should continue through Monday evening, tapering by late evening. There may be a transition to freezing rain in the metro late Monday night, which may add an icy coating on top of fresh snow!

-Peak snowfall rates should come between 2pm and 9pm Monday. Snowfall rates may approach 1" per hour at times.

This should make for a difficult PM rush hour, and messy travel to and from the Vikings and Wild games...both in town Monday night. My advice, stay downtown or leave extra early if you are planning to attend the games!

Storm Character:

This will be what we call in weather geekdom a "warm advection snowfall." That means southerly winds will pull up moist warm air over colder air near the surface. This will be a wetter snow than our past few systems, with snow:water ratios likely to fall to about 10:1 or even 8:1 during the storm.

NAM hints at wetter snow, and potential freezing drizzle for metro.

It looks like the system may yank enough warm air northward to change some of the precip over to freezing rain late in the event Monday night. That could mean an icy coating at the storms tail end.

This will be a "warmer" storm. Temperatures should actually climb through the 20s during the event, and may top out around 30 degrees by Monday night. There is no arctic surge on the storm's back side, meaning there is not much in the way of cold arctic air or wind behind the system. Some good news anyway!

Snowfall Totals:

Okay here we go with the "inches" part of the forecast.

-It appears the heaviest snow band will set up along and north of the I-94 corridor...from Alex-St. Cloud-northern Metro-Eau Claire on the south. On the north end the heavy snow band could reach Brainerd-Duluth. Snowfall totals could reach 6" to 10" in the heavy snow band...this includes Alex, St. Cloud, the far north metro, Brainerd, Mill Lacs, Hinckley and near Duluth.

-North and south of the heaviest snow band there should be another area with impressive snowfall totals of 4" to 8" by early Tuesday morning. This includes Willmar to the Twin Cities & Rochester on the south, and Bemidji to Grand Rapids and Hibbing on the north. By midnight Monday night/Tuesday there could be 4" to 8" totals across the metro, with the heaviest totals in the north metro...followed by an icy coating late Monday night.

NAM snowfall painting 4" to 8" totals.

Bottom Line & Impacts:

Prepare for a messy PM rush hour Monday evening, and very slick roadways. With temperatures rising into the 20s, MNDOT chemicals should work to keep some main roads wet if the plows can keep up. Snow should be falling before and during he Vikings game on MNF, and that could make for some slick playing conditions underfoot, and some interesting visuals on MNF!

Let's see what tonight's model runs bring, but be ready for snow (and maybe some ice) Monday!

PH