Mild temperatures through Monday, then snow is likely

Snow continued to melt overnight in the metro area and southern Minnesota where temperatures remained above freezing. The normal morning low in the Twin Cities today would be 8 degrees, but the 7 a.m. temperature is a balmy, if windy, 36.

Temperatures will take a slow fall throughout the day today, courtesy of a brisk northwest wind that is pushing a cold front southward across the state.

An Alberta Clipper will reach Minnesota tomorrow. Temperatures should be warm enough that a variety of light precipitation will fall. The early call is that precipitation should be mainly rain and light freezing rain in southern Minnesota but a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain in the central and northern parts of the state. Highs will range from the low 30s to the low 40s.

Unseasonably mild temperatures will continue for the weekend. Saturday will be a great day to take down holiday decorations as highs should range from the low 30s in the far north to the low 40s in the south.

Saturday night and Sunday another chance of rain or snow or wintry mix will cross the state.

The weather maps will become quite interesting by Tuesday.  A storm called a Panhandle hook, so-named because they form over the Texas panhandle and then "hook" to the left as they track toward the Great Lakes, will head in our direction.

The feature that will become this storm is still out over the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It must come onshore along the West Coast, cross a variety of mountains, dig southeast to the Southern Plains, develop into a storm, pick up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and then curve northeastward. While there is much uncertainty concerning its eventual track and snow-making potential, here is the big picture from the Twin Cities National Weather Service Office.

The most recent GFS model run forecasts a blob of plowable snow to advance northeastward from Iowa into southern Minnesota next Tuesday morning.

As of now, five days prior to the event, it looks like a dandy blanket of fresh snow will get laid down from northern Iowa across parts of southern and eastern Minnesota into Wisconsin on Tuesday and Tuesday night. The snow should end over Wisconsin on Wednesday as a cold northwest wind blows across both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Future model runs will be quite interesting and useful to pin down the storm track.