Arctic chill returns; Sunday snow

We've seen this movie before.

Flakes fall, then the skies clear and temperatures drop sharply.

Yesterday's snow brightened up our landscape, and now we have the arctic chill.

Advisories

Wind chill advisories continue across most of Minnesota this Friday morning:

The advisory for all of northern Minnesota expires at noon Friday, and it's for wind chill values in the -25 to -40 degree range.

Central and southern Minnesota are in a wind chill advisory until 10 a.m. this Friday.

Here are details of the wind chill advisory in the Twin Cities metro area:

Wind Chill Advisory

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE

National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN

300 AM CST Fri Jan 12 2018

...BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILLS ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN

MINNESOTA INTO FAR WESTERN WISCONSIN THROUGH THIS MORNING...

.Wind chills in the 25 to 35 degrees below zero range will persist

this morning across all of central and southern Minnesota and

into far western portions of western Wisconsin, where a Wind

Chill Advisory remains in effect until 10 AM CST.

Wind chills will gradually improve throughout the afternoon hours.

MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014-023-024-121600-

/O.CON.KMPX.WC.Y.0005.000000T0000Z-180112T1600Z/

Douglas-Todd-Morrison-Mille Lacs-Kanabec-Stevens-Pope-Stearns-

Benton-Sherburne-Isanti-Chisago-Lac Qui Parle-Swift-Chippewa-

Kandiyohi-Meeker-Wright-Hennepin-Anoka-Ramsey-Washington-

Yellow Medicine-Renville-McLeod-Sibley-Carver-Scott-Dakota-

Redwood-Brown-Nicollet-Le Sueur-Rice-Goodhue-Watonwan-Blue Earth-

Waseca-Steele-Martin-Faribault-Freeborn-Polk-St. Croix-Pierce-

Including the cities of Alexandria, Long Prairie, Little Falls,

Princeton, Mora, Morris, Glenwood, St Cloud, Foley, Elk River,

Cambridge, Center City, Madison, Benson, Montevideo, Willmar,

Litchfield, Monticello, Minneapolis, Blaine, St Paul, Stillwater,

Granite Falls, Olivia, Hutchinson, Gaylord, Chaska, Shakopee,

Hastings, Redwood Falls, New Ulm, St Peter, Le Sueur, Faribault,

Red Wing, St James, Mankato, Waseca, Owatonna, Fairmont,

Blue Earth, Albert Lea, Osceola, Hudson, River Falls,

and Prescott

300 AM CST Fri Jan 12 2018

...WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM CST THIS

MORNING...

* WHAT...Very cold wind chills in the 25 below zero to 35 below

zero range. The cold wind chills will cause frostbite in as

little as 30 minutes to exposed skin.

* WHERE...central and southern Minnesota and far western

Wisconsin.

* WHEN...Until 10 AM CST Friday.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Wind Chill Advisory means that cold air and the wind will

combine to create low wind chills. Frost bite and hypothermia can

occur if precautions are not taken. Make sure you wear a hat and

gloves

Temperature trends

Friday afternoon highs are expected to be in the single digits below zero for most of the northern third of Minnesota.

Central and southern Minnesota will probably see highs in the single digits above zero.

Low temperatures late Friday night/early Saturday morning will be in the 20s below zero in most of northern and west-central Minnesota, with teens below zero elsewhere in our favorite state:

Saturday highs are expected to be slightly below zero north, and slightly above zero in the central and south:

Sunday's highs are a bit milder, with teens in most of central and southern Minnesota and some lower 20s southwest:

Twin Cities metro area highs dip back into the single digits for Monday and Tuesday, followed by teens on Wednesday and 20s next Thursday and Friday.

Our average high temp is 23 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area this time of year.

Snow tally

Here are a few snow totals from Thursday:

Thursday's 2.4 inch snow total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport brings our Twin Cities season snowfall total to 9.6 inches, which is 16.6 inches below our average snowfall total at this point in our snow season.

Rochester reported 3.6 inches of snow yesterday and 3.2 inches was the tally at the Duluth airport.

A couple of the highest totals that I saw in northeastern Minnesota were 9 inches at Winton and 8.5 inches at Ely.

There were several reports of about 6 inches in northwestern Minnesota, including Warren and Argyle.

Check the Minnesota snowfall map for totals around the state.

Since the snow began very early on Thursday in parts of Minnesota, I recommend that you click on the "last 48 hours" tab at the top of that map to get complete storm totals.

Sunday snow chance

A low pressure system is expected to spread snow across most of Minnesota on Sunday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential snow pattern Sunday through Sunday evening:

The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of snow.

It looks like parts of northern and eastern Minnesota could see two inches or more of snow Sunday into Sunday evening.

The best chance of snow in the Twin Cities metro area and points to the southeast would be Sunday afternoon and early Sunday evening.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.