6:10 PM Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Remember back in the winter of 2022-2023 when it seemed like every single weather system took a favorable track to bring snow to Duluth, and by the time it ended, we ended up with around 140 inches of snow that winter. Well, this winter has been the complete opposite, and last winter as well, as it’s been a struggle to get the stronger systems from the south to take a favorable track to give us snow. If we’ve had a system come up from the south, temperatures have been too warm, resulting in more rain than snow or a mix of the two. This is probably just Mother Nature’s way of balancing things out, where snowfall was so far above average in Duluth two winters ago, and now we’ve had two winters in a row with well below-average snowfall. Interesting how weather works.
If you live in Duluth and miss the snow, there’s still a chance. We have a few weeks left where significant snow could fall, and the weather pattern looks active through early April. It all depends on storm tracks and having enough cold air for snow instead of rain.
A clipper system may affect the Northland on Sunday, bringing some snow or a rain-snow mix. More details below.
Winter/Spring Storm/Blizzard Wednesday
A strong storm will move east-northeast from western Kansas this evening, reaching the Chicago area in north central Illinois by late Wednesday afternoon, and then heading towards Lake Huron by dawn on Thursday.
This storm is tracking too far to south to bring any snow to northeast Minnesota including Duluth, and most of northwest Wisconsin on Wednesday, but we will have some breezy conditions out of the north to northeast tonight and Wednesday.
This storm will bring heavy snow and strong winds, leading to blizzard conditions on Wednesday from parts of Kansas and Nebraska, east to Iowa and far southern Minnesota. Accumulating snow and blowing snow will also impact central and northeast Wisconsin and upper Michigan on Wednesday.
The latest storm continues to organize this afternoon across the Rockies and central Plains. We’ve seen a few of these this month.
Goes-16 water vapor loop from Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Loop time ends 6:01 PM CT.
Check out the temperatures in the Central Plains today. Widespread 60s and 70s, with even a few 80s mixed in as well. Some of the areas experiencing these very warm temperatures today are under Blizzard Warnings on Wednesday.
Here’s the European model simulated radar forecast valid Midnight tonight to Midnight tomorrow night.
Snow – Blue
Rain – Green
Wintry Mix – Pink
Snowfall Forecast
European model total snowfall through Wednesday evening.
A swath of at least 2 to 5 inches of snow with localized amounts of 6 to 8 inches or more is expected in a corridor from north-central Kansas and eastern Nebraska into western and northern Iowa, far southern Minnesota, southwest, central, and northeast Wisconsin into central and eastern upper Michigan.
Windy Weather
In the Northland, expect wind gusts of around 15 to 35 mph through Wednesday night, with the highest gusts in northwest Wisconsin, east-central Minnesota, and near Lake Superior.
HRRR model wind gust forecast through 7 AM Thursday.
Strong wind gusts in red and yellow on the loop showing the potential for gusts of 40 to 60 mph or more on Wednesday.
Clipper Type System Sunday
A system approaching from the west and northwest looks a little interesting this weekend, but there’s still quite a large spread on the track of this system, which could affect the Northland Sunday into early Monday.
The storm track will also determine whether we see snow, rain, or a bit of both, as well as just how much snow/rain we will see.
Stay tuned.
Euro ensemble model 500mb forecast for March 22-24 shown below.
Thanks for reading!
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