Snow cover shrinks; cool, quiet weekend

The official snow depth at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 16 inches Tuesday morning. Rain and warm temps over the past few days have melted and compressed the snow depth down to 4 inches, as of Friday morning:

St. Cloud, Minn., and Eau Claire, Wis., still have 10 inches of snow on the ground.

Icy start

Those puddles from snow melt and recent rains turned to ice overnight on some roads and on many sidewalks and driveways.

This is a day for your grippiest shoes!

Sand Creek flooding  

A flood warning continues until Saturday evening for areas near Sand Creek in Jordan in the southwest Twin Cities metro area:

Flood Statement

National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN

652 AM CDT Fri Mar 15 2019

...The flood warning is cancelled for the following river in

Minnesota...

North Fork Zumbro River above Wanamingo CR30 affecting Goodhue

County

...The flood warning continues for the following rivers in

Minnesota...

Sand Creek at Jordan affecting Scott County

Middle Fork Zumbro River at Pine Island 1S / Mdl Frk Zumbro R

affecting Goodhue County

.Overview...

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Do not drive cars through flooded areas.  Turn Around...Don`t Drown.

Stay tuned to NOAA Weather Radio or your local radio or TV station

for the latest information concerning this flood event.

&&

MNC139-161751-

/O.EXT.KMPX.FL.W.0003.000000T0000Z-190317T0310Z/

/SNCM5.3.ER.190314T2338Z.190315T0615Z.190315T1510Z.NR/

652 AM CDT Fri Mar 15 2019

...Flood Warning now expected to end Saturday evening...The Flood

Warning continues for

The Sand Creek at Sand Crk Jordan.

* until Saturday evening.

* At  6:00 AM Friday the stage was 11.4 feet.

* Record flooding is occurring.

* Flood stage is 10.0 feet.

* Forecast...The river will continue to fall to below flood stage this afternoon.

Here's the hydrograph for Sand Creek near Jordan:

KARE11 had a live report from the flooded area Friday morning:

Hundreds of people at a trailer park in Jordan had to be evacuated Thursday evening because of flash flooding from nearby Sand Creek.

47 residents from Valley Green Mobile Home Park were taken to shelter at Jordan High School, according to Jordan police. The American Red Cross is operating the shelter.

The green-shaded areas on this NWS map had active flood warnings Friday morning:

You can go get flood warning updates by clicking on any location on the NWS Twin Cities site.

Temperature trends

Friday afternoon highs should reach the 20s in northwestern and north-central Minnesota, with 30s elsewhere. Our average high this time of year is 41 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area.

Saturday highs will be in the 30s statewide:

And similar highs are on tap for Sunday:

Twin Cities metro area highs reach 40 degrees on Monday, followed by lower 40s Tuesday, and mid-40s Wednesday. We could see highs in the upper 40s Thursday and around 50 next Friday.

Flake chances

Northwestern Minnesota will have a flurry chance anytime Friday. The rest of Minnesota and western Minnesota could see a passing afternoon or evening flurry.

It looks like some light snow will move into west-central and southwestern Minnesota Saturday morning, then spread southeastward in the afternoon. Patchy light snow could slide over parts of Minnesota and western Wisconsin overnight Saturday night and early on Sunday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Saturday through Sunday morning:

As always, updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you’ll also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

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.