6:14 PM Monday, March 6, 2023
- 9.1 inches of snow so far this month at Duluth, Minnesota. Normal snowfall for March is 12.8 inches. Percent of normal snowfall to date is 284% of normal.
- 6 to as much as 10 inches of water in the snowpack in the Duluth area, with a snow depth of 30 inches at the National Weather Service as of March 6, 2023.
- 102.4 inches of snow so far this season at Duluth. We need an additional 33 inches of snow to tie the seasonal snowfall record of 135.4 inches which was set in 1995-1996.
- Seasonal snowfall total for 2022-2023 in Duluth is running +31.7 inches above normal to date and is 145% of normal snowfall to date.
- A break in the snow for Tuesday and most of Wednesday.
- Snow chances return later this week into this weekend
Here’s a look at how much water is in the snowpack centered on the Twin Ports.
Strong high pressure off to our north nearing 1050mb will keep the Northland dry on Tuesday and probably into Wednesday as well, but a little snow might be able to make its way into western portions of the Northland (west of Duluth) on Wednesday.
Chances for snow increase for Thursday and Friday, although at the moment the highest probabilities of 6 inches or more of snow covers western/southern Minnesota with lesser amounts of snow expected in the Northland the way it looks now, but there’s still time for things to change.
Some more snow is possible late Saturday into Sunday.
Euro ensemble model shows the highest odds for getting 6 inches or more of snow west/south of the Northland through Friday evening.
GEFS model 20-member precipitation type forecast for Friday morning, March 10, 2023.
Snow in blue
Several inches of snow fell late last night into this morning across southern portions of the Northland with reports of anywhere from 4 to 8 inches of snow from parts of eastern Minnesota into northwest Wisconsin.
Snowfall Reports from March 5-6, 2023
Source: National Weather Service Duluth, Minnesota
1 E Spooner, WI: 8.5″
4 W Pleasant Valley, MN: 7.5″
3 ENE Holyoke, MN: 7.4″
2 ESE Shell Lake, WI: 7.1″
South Range, WI: 7.0″
Kettle River, MN: 7.0″
2 WSW Washburn, WI: 6.8″
3 W Bayfield, WI: 6.5″
4 E Hayward, WI: 6.5″
5 S Herbster, WI: 6.5″
3 NNW Mahtowa, MN: 5.9″
Wrenshall, MN: 5.2″
2 NNW Gary New Duluth, MN: 5.0″
2 NNW Kerrick, MN: 5.0″
1 NW Hayward, WI: 5.0″
3 SW Ashland, WI: 5.0″
4 SE Superior, WI: 4.8″
1 SSE Oulu, WI: 4.8″
3 WSW Superior, WI: 4.5″
2 E Esko, MN: 4.2″
1 SSW Pine City, MN: 4.0″
1 N Cloquet, MN: 3.5″
2 SW Hinckley, MN: 3.5″
7 ESE Brainerd, MN: 3.0″
Duluth, MN: 2.9″ (Official total at the NWS)
2 NNE Duluth, MN: 2.5″
2 N Pillager, MN: 1.9″
3 NNE Duluth, MN: 1.8″
7 SSW Deerwood, MN: 1.7″
Gile, WI: 1.5″
6 WNW Castle Danger, MN: 1.1″
A lot of blocking is in place across northeast Canada today and this blocking won’t be going away anytime soon.
Here’s an animation of the above image — Water vapor loop from Monday, March 6, 2023 (loop time ends 3:20 PM CT)
Note the movement in the moisture/clouds and how they are moving more westerly in northeast Canada, while things are moving in a more typical west-east direction in the US today.
A combination of steep low-level lapse rates and cold air aloft has made the atmosphere a little unstable this afternoon, and the result from this is for some convective like showers of snow and sleet across parts of northeast Minnesota this afternoon (outlined in yellow on the map)
Here’s a radar image of the scattered but locally heavy snow or sleet showers which have been moving southwest across parts of northeast Minnesota this afternoon.
Meteorological winter 2022-2023 is in the books and here in Duluth this winter was warmer, wetter and snowier than average.
Average temperature at Duluth, MN (DJF 2022-23) 15.9 degrees
Normal: 14.6 degrees
Departure: +1.3 degrees above average
58% of days from December 1st through February 28th had above average temperatures in Duluth compared to just 39% of days which had below average temperatures.
26 subzero nights in Duluth during meteorological winter 2022-23. Mean is 32 subzero nights.
Temperature data for Duluth, MN — December 1, 2022, through February 28, 2023.
Precipitation Data for Duluth, Minnesota — December 1, 2022, through February 28, 2023.
Snowfall Data for Duluth, Minnesota — December 1, 2022, through February 28, 2023.
Cold west, warm east was common during meteorological winter 2022-2023.
DJF 2022-23 Average Temperature Ranks by Climate District.
Parts of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio had a top 5 warmest winter on record (dark red on map)
Total precipitation at Duluth for DJF 2022-23: 6.61″
Normal: 3.43″
Departure: +3.43″ above normal
Wettest winter on record: 8.66″ set in 1969
Total snowfall at Duluth for DJF 2022-23: 75.3″
Normal: 50.6″
Departure: +24.7″ above average
Snowiest winter on record: 87.5″ set in 1969.
38 days with at least 0.1″ of snow (mean is 37 days)
19 days with at least 1.0″ of snow (mean is 15 days)
DJF 2022-23 Total Precipitation Ranks by Climate District.
Everywhere you see a 1 on the map indicates a wettest winter on record by climate district.
Green, Blue and Purple: Above average precipitation
Yellow and Brown: Below average precipitation
Percent of normal precipitation at Duluth for the winter of 2022-23 was 193% of normal.
Percent of normal snowfall at Duluth for the winter of 2022-23 was 149% of normal.
Thanks for reading!
Tim