Good afternoon everyone! Just a quick update regarding the light snow chances over the next couple of days. Some scattered snow flurries/showers are expected to develop through the next few hours in northeastern MN and quickly drop southeastward by 10pm CDT into WI with only remaining flurry activity in the area. There will be a wave of energy that will spawn a narrow corridor of light snow after 7pm CDT this evening in western ND that also swiftly works southeastward overnight across central ND into northeastern SD. Areas of freezing fog will also be a possibility in SD overnight into Saturday morning that could result in a few slick spots on roadways. Watch for the narrow axis of snow to lift into southwestern MN after 7am CDT Saturday before exiting the region to the southeast Saturday evening. Many will not see snow with this wave given the small area it is impacting, but areas impacted in central ND, northeastern SD into southwestern/far southern MN will generally observe a dusting to 1″ of snow (note this will be very confined in area). Here’s an updated simulated radar and snowfall aided from the NBM:
The winds this evening will be a far cry from what we have observed across the region over the last couple of days. Taking a look at wind gusts through the remainder of the evening into the overnight below, we find that gusts upwards of 30-35mph in MN will quickly wane this evening and overnight and by Saturday morning, the winds will be rather light for most with only some breezes to 20-25mph developing in the western Dakotas.
We’ll watch for an additional wave of energy to drop southeastward across the northeastern portions of the region Saturday night, which will provide scattered light snow chances within the circled region below during this timeframe. The northwest flow that is a result of a +PNA pattern (ridge over the western US resulting in lower heights to the east) will provide the risk for continuing pulses of weak energy to drop into the region Sunday into Monday, but precipitation will be widely scattered in nature. Also, the better chances should remain more in northern MN during this time as well.
Simulated radar from 10pm CDT Saturday evening through 10pm CDT Sunday evening: Expect areas of snow showers to impact mainly the far eastern portions of ND into northern MN Saturday night, then becoming less widespread during the day Sunday across northern/eastern MN. A few flurries and light snow showers will remain possible Sunday night into Monday, but should stay confined generally to northern MN. Snow accumulations Saturday night through the day Sunday will be light and most likely across the northeastern portions of the region, particularly northern MN. Most in northern MN will stay under 0.5″ of snow accumulation, but locally higher amounts of up to 1″ are possible in the north-central section of the state.
A substantially drier pattern (7-day precipitation percent of normal shown below) is settling in across the region as an upper-level trough digs into the Eastern US. This will shunt the vast majority of precipitation and moisture south and eastward well away from the region. Drier northwest flow will take hold and help to dry out the region this weekend through next week. However, even with less active patterns will come a few weak disturbances (as discussed above for this weekend), but won’t amount to anything substantial. Those affected by extensive flooding over the last few days should be relieved that drier trends over the coming week will be noted, but continue to monitor as snowpack continues to melt late month into April.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to reach out! Have a great weekend!