5:58 PM Thursday, March 28, 2024
Another round of snow and possibly some freezing rain will move across the Northland from late Friday afternoon into Saturday morning, but this system won’t be lingering for several days, in fact this system will move through fairly quickly and should be out of the area by Saturday afternoon if not a little sooner.
Snowfall totals shouldn’t be too significant with this system with accumulations ranging from 1 to 3 inches in northern Minnesota and from a trace to one inch in northwest Wisconsin and east central Minnesota.
- Duluth area: Dry during the day Friday followed by some snow Friday evening into early Saturday morning. Patchy freezing drizzle is also possible. Snowfall accumulations of around an inch. Note: The bulk of this precipitation looks to fall Friday night mainly after 6 PM with precipitation ending around mid-morning Saturday (~8 AM to 10 AM)
NAM 3km model simulated radar forecast valid 1 PM Friday to 1 PM Saturday.
A light glaze of ice accumulation is also possible Friday night especially over parts of east central Minnesota and northern Wisconsin.
After a very mild beginning to the month, the last week or so has turned much colder across the area.
Average temperatures in the Northland from March 17-27, 2024, ranged from around -6 to nearly -10 degrees colder than normal (see below)
International Falls: 17.2 degrees. -9.5 degrees below normal
Hibbing: 19.2 degrees. -7.4 degrees below normal
Duluth: 23.1 degrees. -6.3 degrees below normal
Brainerd: 24.1 degrees. -7.4 degrees below normal
With clear skies and plenty of snow on the ground this will set the stage for another very cold early spring night with temperatures tonight in the single digits to lower teens in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin with subzero temperatures possible in a few locations.
50s push north into far southern Minnesota on Friday but this warm air won’t make it into the Northland as will see temperatures in the 30s in northern Minnesota to the low to mid 40s in parts of northwest Wisconsin and far eastern Minnesota.
You can really pick out where the snow fell the last few days on Goes-16 Day Cloud Phase satellite imagery this afternoon.
Green areas=Snow cover
LONG RANGE FORECAST
An active pattern is possible from late next week into early the following week as a potentially deep upper-level trough sets up across the western U.S. with upper-level ridging stretching from the Midwest and Great Lakes to northeast Canada.
Timing of individual waves or one main storm ejecting northeast out of the Rockies is uncertain at the moment, but the overall pattern favors some active weather at times in the upper Midwest and Northland from around April 4th through 9th (give or take a day or two)
What type of precipitation we may see in the Northland is uncertain as that will come down to what the storm track/s will end up being, but computer models are in pretty good agreement that our area will be on the warmer side of these systems which means we could be getting more rain than snow the way it looks now.
Thanks for reading!
Tim
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