Sunday spring storm is on its way

Here we go again. Just as the last flurries from our five-day storm are winding down, a new weather-maker is on the way. This storm will stream out of the High Plains across the Dakotas and into Minnesota tonight. Its April nature will show up in a variety of precipitation types and impacts. The short version is that travel is likely to become tricky across much of western Minnesota by tomorrow morning and across much of the north during the day on Sunday.

Credit:NWS Chanhassen

A mixture of rain, freezing rain, sleet (ice pellets) and snow will edge into western Minnesota tonight. By morning, as daytime temperatures begin to rise, the precipitation should resolve into all rain across most of the south while snow increases in the north.

Areas in between, from west central to central Minnesota, are likely to have a lengthy period of freezing rain that continues into Sunday. An Ice Storm Warning has been posted for Traverse and Big Stone counties, including Wheaton and Ortonville, beginning at 10 p.m. this evening. Freezing rain mixed with snow and sleet could have impacts eastward through the St. Cloud area after midnight tonight.

Across northern Minnesota the issue will be snow that will fall heavily at times on Sunday and continue Sunday night. While amounts of wet snow are notoriously difficult to forecast, it looks likely that 5 to 8 inches are on the way for much of northern Minnesota from Detroit Lakes and Bemidji east to the Iron Range and Ely. Some local amounts around 9 or 10 inches are possible mainly in the northwest corner. A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for northwestern Minnesota beginning late tonight and is likely to be extended farther eastward before the snow arrives.

Credit:NWS Grand Forks

Across southern Minnesota where rainfall will dominate, many locations are likely to pick up around a half inch of liquid.

Bill Endersen