Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Light snowy clippers; subzero air returns this weekend

Warmup should come by Friday next week

Snowfall projection for Minnesota
Snowfall projection for Minnesota.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

It’s a patchwork of light snow this week across Minnesota.

Our latest clipper brings mostly light scattered snow showers through this evening. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NAM 3 km model shows the arc of snow showers wrapping through eastern Minnesota through Wednesday evening.

Note the bigger storm that’s dumping heavy snow across parts of Indiana and Michigan. The 12-hour loop below runs between noon Wednesday and midnight Thursday:

NOAA NAM 3 km model Wednesday
NOAA NAM 3 km model noon Wednesday to midnight Thursday
NOAA, via Tropical Tidbits

Temperatures Thursday show a wedge of teens across Minnesota. But look at the mild zone of 30s in the Dakotas. That milder air mass will slide in here briefly early Friday morning before the next arctic front arrives.

Forecast high temperatures Thursday
Forecast high temperatures Thursday
NOAA

Next clipper Thursday night

Our next clipper precedes an arctic front Friday. Snow will break out in the Red River Valley Thursday evening and race across Minnesota Thursday night. It should reach Duluth and the Twin Cities around midnight, give or take.

NOAA’s NAM 3 km model loop below tracks the fast-moving snow zone between 6 p.m. Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday.

NOAA NAM 3 km model Friday
North American Mesoscale Forecast System 3 km model between 6 p.m. Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday
NOAA, via Tropical Tidbits

Overall snowfall totals between 1 and 2 inches are likely with the system by Friday morning.

Forecast snowfall Friday
Forecast snowfall Thursday night into Friday.
Twin Cities National Weather Service office

Weekend subzero snap

This weekend’s inbound arctic outbreak looks cold, but not anywhere near record cold for Minnesota this time of year. Record lows in the Twin Cities are at minus 29 to minus 30 degrees this weekend.

There is a chance we’ll approach the coldest air of the year so far in places like the Twin Cities, which bottomed out at minus 12 on Dec. 23 for the coldest temperature so far this winter at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Forecast low temperatures Sunday morning
Forecast low temperatures Sunday morning
NOAA

There’s better news for those who like it a little milder. We should warm up again by next Friday.

Stay tuned.