Light snow chance Wednesday; significant winter storm possible Saturday

We’re back in the snow business across much of Minnesota this week.

Wednesday brings another weak to moderate system with snow again favoring areas north of the Twin Cities.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s FV3 model shows snowfall developing in the early afternoon hours and increasing coverage through Wednesday night. It should be noted that other models keep most of the snow north of the Twin Cities Wednesday night.

The forecast model loop below runs between noon Wednesday and 6 a.m. Thursday.

Most forecast models suggest the Twin Cities will again ride the southern edge of the snow zone. Heaver accumulation favors areas north of the Twin Cities by Thursday morning.

As you can see on the map at the top of this post, northern Minnesota is likely to pick up significant snowfall accumulation with this system by Thursday.

Bigger snow Saturday?

The forecast maps are still cranking out a more significant snow system Saturday for much of Minnesota. There are still forecast track questions, but the synoptic setup for the system looks promising to drop potentially heavy snow across much of Minnesota on Saturday.

NOAA’s Global Forecast System model is typical of solutions that paint a large snow shield across Minnesota on Saturday. The forecast model loop below runs all day Saturday from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.

This model output snowfall map below comes with a giant warning label. This will no doubt change before Saturday. But several models, including this NOAA Global Forecast System snowfall output through Saturday, suggest several inches of snow across much of Minnesota combined with both the Wednesday and Saturday systems.

We’ll see how the models shift this week. Keep the shovel handy. We may finally get a decent snow cover across much of Minnesota this weekend.

Stay tuned.