Friday the 13th mega-storm for parts of Minnesota?
The weather maps continue to look scary-snowy for much of southern Minnesota Friday night and Saturday. The only remaining forecast questions appear to be on the precise geographic coverage of the heavy snow zone.
Here are the latest storm highlights.
Blizzard warnings are now up for western Minnesota.
Winter storm watch continues for the Twin Cities area.
This storm has the potential to produce 15 to 20 inches of snow in western Minnesota.
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Rain to snow Friday
Rain coverage increases Friday morning. There will be enough instability with rapidly rising updrafts to produce a few embedded thunderstorms.
There may be a period of ice and sleet late Friday as rain changes to snow later Friday. The rain/snow line hangs close to the Twin Cities Friday afternoon. There may be a period of ice and sleet late Friday as rain changes to snow later Friday. Snow continues through Saturday.
Heavy snowfall potential
Western Minnesota still looks like ground zero for the heaviest snowfall totals that could approach 16 to 20 inches-plus in some areas. I'm still leaning toward a general 5- to 10-inches-plus range across the Twin Cities, with some locally heavier totals.
I'm being conservative for now. Some of the models are cranking out higher totals for the Twin Cities.
Here's the latest National Weather Service map.
Ice too
We may see some sleet and glaze ice accumulations. The best chance for a coating of glaze ice is in southeast Minnesota and Wisconsin.
It will be interesting to see how the next two model runs come in.
Stay tuned.