Snow Storm Moves Through Minn., Followed By High Winds
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Snow came down quick and heavy in Minnesota Tuesday morning.
In the metro area, the snow began picking up around 7:30 a.m. with visibility falling to less than a mile. The snow tapered off around noon with around 1.5 to 2.5 inches reported in the metro, but strong winds followed. Wind gusts of up to 40 mph will create big problems with blowing snow and keep visibility low.
"We're about 17 inches behind our average snowfall pace for this time of year, so a 2- to 4-inch snowfall is pretty significant for us this season," Meteorologist Matt Brickman said.
Some areas, like Alexandria and Little Falls, saw about 6 inches of snow before the snow system moved on.
Now, visibility is the main concern for the afternoon, which is why there is a Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for much of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro.
Blizzard Warnings are in place for south central and west central Minnesota until 9 p.m. tonight. In the warned counties, expect near whiteout conditions this afternoon. Travel in those areas is not advised.
"Typically, when you get a March snowfall, temperatures are warm enough that this is a little more of a heavy snow – more difficult to pick up and blow around. But this is a very dry snow and is going to be very easy – the light fluffy stuff – to blow back and forth across the roads," Brickman said.
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Winds calm down a little bit overnight and the temperatures cool to 2 below for the metro.
Early Wednesday morning, expect wind chills to be 15 to 25 degrees below zero. It doesn't warm up much, too, with 8 degrees expected to be the high.
Things look great for the weekend, however, with temperatures rising into the mid-30s and high-30s by next week.
