Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

A cool Presidents Day; some snow to shovel on Wednesday

As expected, the highest Sunday snow totals were in far southern Minnesota.

As of late Sunday afternoon, there were reports of about four inches near St. James and Austin, and five inches in Hokah.  There was a report of 6.3 inches near Mound Prairie, in Houston county of southeastern Minnesota.

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

The National Weather Service continued a winter weather advisory through Sunday evening for southeastern Minnesota, due to slick roads. You can check the latest forecasts and advisories from the NWS offices in the Twin Cities and La Crosse, WI.

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

Road conditions will be updated by the Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments.

Twin Cities snow total creeps up

The Sunday snow total at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was four-tenths of an inch, which brings the February total to 22.6 inches.

We need just four more inches of snow to make this the snowiest February in Twin Cities weather records:

I think we're going to do it!

The list of snowiest Februarys doesn't yet reflect our 2019 total, which is enough to take over fourth place in the rankings.

Temperature trends

Minnesota highs will be in the teens across most of Minnesota on Presidents Day:

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Some spots in the Twin Cities metro area and southeastern Minnesota will touch 20 degrees on Monday. Our average high this time of year is 30 degrees in the Twin Cities metro area.

Metro area highs are expected to be around 17 degrees on Tuesday, followed by mid 20s on Wednesday. Highs reach the lower 20s Thursday, then mid to upper 20s on Friday.

Tuesday night and Wednesday snow

We're in an active weather pattern, so snow is expected to return late Tuesday and linger into Wednesday morning across much of Minnesota.

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

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NOAA NAM simulated radar from Tuesday evening through Wednesday evening, via tropicaltidbits

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 should be enough snow to plow in many areas, so check for forecast details as we get closer to Wednesday.

Forecast models are showing another potential snowfall Friday night into Saturday.

It seems to snow easily this February!