Snowier pattern ahead. Subzero arctic outbreak next week?
Two more chances for snow this week in much of Minnesota
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The second half of La Niña winters are notorious for bringing cold and snow to Minnesota, and it appears our weather pattern is ready to shoot to the cold and snowy mode in the coming weeks.
We’ve already picked up some impressive snowfall total across much of northeastern Minnesota in the past few days:
International Falls, 5.3 inches
Cloquet, 5.8 inches
Ely, 6.1 inches
Castle Danger, 6.5 inches
Two Harbors and Grand Marais, 7 inches
Lester Park and Silver Bay, 8 inches
Lutsen area, 8 to 9 inches
Our Monday morning snowfall in the Twin Cities brought an inch to most locations. Two more chances for snow are ahead on the weather maps this week.
Our next snow chance arrives on Wednesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NAM 3 km model is typical of many developing splotchy-looking convective snow and ice showers around the greater Twin Cities late Wednesday.
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The forecast model loop below runs between 3 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. Wednesday:
Early indications suggest this will be another light snowfall for the Twin Cities with heavier accumulations across northern Minnesota.
Bigger storm Saturday?
The Canadian, American and European models all agree on snow for much of Minnesota Saturday.
If current forecast model trends hold, this system will produce a wide swath of snow from north-central Minnesota through the Twin Cities and southward.
Here’s NOAA’s Global Forecast System model solution as of Monday:
It’s quite possible the storm track and timing could shift in the next few days. But if this scenario unfolds we could be looking at significant plowable snowfall totals Saturday across much of central and southern Minnesota.
Let’s see how the models evolve this week.
Subzero outbreak next week?
Forecast models suggest the upper winds will pull down a significant arctic outbreak next week. Here’s NOAA’s Global Forecast System upper-air anomaly between Friday and next Thursday:
Early indications are that temperatures may reach the teens below zero once again across southern Minnesota with minus 20s to minus 30s possible up north.
Stay tuned to see how this evolves as we try and gauge the magnitude and duration of any possible arctic outbreak next week.