/Issued 5:03 PM CST, Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Still some dry air hanging on around the Twin Ports area early this evening but the atmosphere continues to slowly moisten up, and snow should begin to fall by 7 PM.
Here’s my updated snowfall accumulation map for tonight’s event. Should be a fairly widespread area with 2 to 5 inches of new snow by morning, mainly along and slightly north/south of the Highway 2 corridor in northeast Minnesota, including most of northwest Wisconsin. Lesser amounts up north.
Source: http://www.intellicast.com
Radar loop ending at 4:45 PM CST, Wednesday, December 20, 2017.
Snow moving east impacting central/northern Minnesota this evening (Blue area on map)
Link to road conditions
Minnesota – https://lb.511mn.org/mnlb/winterdriving/routeselect.jsf
Wisconsin – https://511wi.gov/map
Weather Synopsis
A chilly day with high temperatures ranging from the single digits north to the mid teens south. Some filtered sun at times in parts of the area but overall skies were mostly cloudy today. Some snow has moved into western-southern portions of the Northland this afternoon with dry weather elsewhere.
Surface map from late this afternoon had high pressure of 1022mb over eastern Wisconsin with a 1026mb ridge of high pressure stretching from southern Alberta to central Manitoba Provinces. Low pressure of 1000mb was over southeast Wyoming while a potent mid/upper level trough with 12-hour 500mb height falls of 120-180 meters heads south/east through the central Rockies.
Tonight: Snow for most of the Northland although the greatest accumulations should be near and slightly north/south of the Highway 2 corridor in northeast Minnesota, including most of northwest Wisconsin. Snow should remain on the light side farther north with less accumulation compared to areas farther south, once you get up toward the Canadian border not much more than a dusting of new snow is expected for tonight. Lows will range from the single digits below to around 10 below zero in far northern Minnesota to the teens above zero in eastern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin.
Thursday: Lingering light snow and flurries with not much additional accumulation expected the way it looks now. The exception to this might be near Lake Superior where some lake effect snow showers are possible, although the surface wind direction looks to favor the South Shore vs. the North Shore as low level winds will be out of the north/northeast vs. a more favorable E-NE wind direction that would favor the North Shore. Doesn’t look like there will be a lot of lake effect, however, with perhaps another 1 to 2 inches of accumulation possible for the South Shore from Thursday afternoon into Thursday night. Highs Thursday will range from the lower teens in far northern Minnesota to the upper teens to middle 20s in northwest Wisconsin. Lows Thursday night will generally be in the single digits and teens.
Friday: Flurries possible early near Lake Superior, then there could be some snow showers over parts of the Northland for the afternoon-evening hours as a cold front passes through the region. Highs Friday will be in the teens and 20s.
Note: Frigid temperatures still expected for next week although there has been a noticeable warming trend at least for Christmas Eve with daytime highs now looking to be in the single digits and teens above zero in the Northland. The coldest air looks to arrive Christmas Day, possibly lingering into midweek. The European Ensemble model has ~80 consecutive hours with below zero temperatures in Duluth for next week.
Forecast for Duluth and Superior
Event: *Winter Weather Advisory*
Timing: Through Thursday morning
.Tonight… Snow developing by 7 PM. Steady temperatures from 10 to 15. Wind east at 5 to 15 mph.
.Thursday… Light snow and flurries. Total snowfall accumulations from 2 to 5 inches possible. High 17 to 22. Wind north to northeast at 10 to 15 mph.
.Friday… Partly to mostly cloudy. Snow showers or flurries possible. High 20 to 25. Wind southwest at 10 to 15 mph.
Normal temperatures for Thursday
High: 21
Low: 5
Sunrise Thursday: 7:51 AM CST
Sunset Thursday: 4:23 PM CST
Tim
Leave a Reply