Rain, sleet, wet snow and some freezing rain on the way late tonight through Friday, winter weather advisory in effect for parts of the Northland

Anywhere from a quarter to half inch of precipitation with locally higher amounts is possible across most of the Northland through Friday afternoon with lesser amounts in the tip of the Arrowhead, and from Ashland to Hurley in northwest Wisconsin.

Source: https://lab.weathermodels.com/

-Winter Weather Advisory (purple area on map) in effect from late through through Friday afternoon including the cities of International Falls, Bigfork, Grand Rapids, Walker, Cass Lake, Brainerd, Hill City, Aitkin and McGregor.

-Expect some ice and snow accumulations late tonight through Friday with slippery road conditions

Source: https://www.weather.gov/dlh/

Road Conditions

Minnesota – https://lb.511mn.org/

This is quite the cold front for early April! Temperatures this afternoon were only in the teens and 20s across the Dakotas into western Minnesota while 50s and 60s were found ahead of the cold front in eastern Minnesota and Wisconsin. This cold front is moving slowly east and will move through the Northland on Friday.

Source: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/

Precipitation is forecast to become more widespread across the Northland this evening and during the overnight. Precipitation will linger on Friday, but taper off from west to east in the afternoon/early evening.

Rain in green, snow in blue and a wintry mix of freezing rain and sleet in pink and purple colors on the animation below.

Simulated radar valid from 7 PM this evening to 7 PM Friday.

Source: 18z NAM-WRF model 4.2.2020; https://weathermodels.com/

The first round of rain moved through portions of north-central and east-central Minnesota early Thursday morning.

Source: https://lab.weathermodels.com/

A slow moving system that’s for sure!

A powerful storm off the northeast US over the Atlantic combined with an upper level ridge between that low to the east and the one to the west is causing our system to move very slowly. Will see the system over the Northern Plains finally pass through the upper Midwest on Friday.

Source: Goes-16 water vapor imagery 4.2.2020; https://weather.cod.edu/

Started the day with quite a bit of cloud cover across the Northland, but sunshine has increased quite a bit this afternoon, but clouds are building in once again from the west/south late this afternoon.

Source: Goes-16 visible imagery 4.2.2020

Low temperature forecast for Friday morning, April 3, 2020. Source: https://lab.weathermodels.com/

High temperature forecast for Friday, April 3, 2020.

…Weather Summary…

Active weather later tonight and Friday followed by a pleasant weekend.

A sharp cold front over western Minnesota this afternoon moves slowly east, passing through the Northland on Friday. Deep moisture ahead of the front with precipitable water of 0.50 to around 0.90″ coupled with a decent amount of lift associated with the front will cause rain to become more widespread across our area from SW-NE by later tonight.

Precipitation will start as rain with mild boundary layer temps, but colder air moves in immediately behind the cold frontal passage which will cause the rain to change to a few hours of wet snow, sleet and freezing rain. This change-over from rain to frozen precipitation types will move from west to east across the Northland on Friday, starting early in the morning over western areas (Brainerd to I’Falls on west) reaching the Iron Range before Noon Friday, then eastern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin Friday afternoon-early evening. All of the precipitation ends Friday night.

*Snow accumulations through Friday afternoon – Generally a dusting to around 3 inches with the highest amounts in western-northwest portions of the area.

*Ice accumulations through Friday afternoon of one-tenth to as much as a quarter inch are possible in north-central Minnesota, south to the Brainerd Lakes and Aitkin areas with generally less than one-tenth inch of ice accumulation from the Iron Range to eastern Minnesota.

Lows tonight will vary considerably, ranging from the 20s in far western areas to the 40s in far eastern Minnesota and most of northwest Wisconsin.

Highs Friday will be in the 20s, 30s and 40s, but temperatures which start mild in eastern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin will be dropping during the afternoon.

South or east winds ahead of a cold front, shifting west-northwest behind the cold front. Wind speeds 10 to 20 mph.

This weekend looks mainly dry as high pressure moves through the area. Highs Saturday will mainly be in the 40s with highs Sunday in the 40s and 50s, cooler along the North Shore.

Forecast for Duluth and Superior

.Tonight… Mostly cloudy. Occasional rain developing late. Patchy fog and drizzle also possible overnight. Low 30 to 35. Wind east to southeast 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 25 mph.

.Friday… Occasional rain mixing with and changing to sleet and wet snow. Patchy freezing rain possible. Total snow and sleet accumulations around an inch or less. Areas of fog and drizzle early. High 37 to 42 with falling temperatures in the afternoon. Wind east to southeast 5 to 15 mph becoming west to northwest 15 to 20 mph.

.Saturday… Mostly sunny. High 40 to 45. Wind northwest 10 to 20 mph.

Thanks for reading!

Tim