Light snow-rain in metro, a little snow in northern MN; top 10 April snowstorms

Here’s the snow tally through 7 a.m. Friday:

Our light snow in the metro area today will bump the 8.9 inches at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport up a bit, but this is already the 10th-largest April snowstorm in Twin Cities weather records:

The Minnesota State Climatology Office has a detailed discussion of the biggest April snowstorms in the metro area and elsewhere in Minnesota here.

You can check snow accumulations from our latest storm as they are posted by the National Weather Service. Hover over a location on their snow map site to see the snow total and the time of observation.

You might want to move the slider at the top of their map to 36 hours or 48 hours to include snow reports that came in early on Thursday.

Here's a snapshot of the National Weather Service snow map as of 8:40 a .m. Friday:

There were several reports of 8 inches or more and some of 12 inches or more. Ortonville, in western Minnesota, reported 17 inches of snow from this storm.  There were many Twin Cities metro area totals in the 6- to 9-inch range since the storm began on Wednesday. Burnsville and the National Weather Service Twin Cities office reported 10 inches.

You can often find county by county snow tallies here.

Snow outlook Friday

A low-pressure system will spin over Minnesota and the western side of Lake Superior Friday, with the heaviest snow over northern Minnesota.

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

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 or rain.

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.

The Twin Cities metro area will see periods of light snow Friday morning and possibly some light snow showers/rain showers and drizzle Friday afternoon and evening.

Northern Minnesota will see the most snow:

Here’s a tour of warnings and advisories in effect this Friday morning and early afternoon:

You can check for forecast updates from the National Weather Service offices in the Twin Cities,  Grand Forks, N.D., Sioux Falls, S.D., and Duluth.

Updated road conditions will be posted by the Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments.

Temperature trends

Our Friday afternoon highs are expected to be in the 30s across Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

On Saturday, many locations will see upper 30s to around 40:

Our average high temperature is 57 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area this time of year, so our weekend highs will be well below average.

Sunday highs will be mainly in the 40s:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the lower 50s Monday, followed by mid 50s Tuesday and Wednesday. The snow cover will shrink nicely!

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.