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Minnesota Weather: Saturday To Bring Big Winds, Snow Emergencies In Minneapolis, St. Paul

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Most of the snow that's fallen in Minnesota is, for the most part, what's going to fall in this latest winter pattern. But the winter conditions will persist Saturday.

WCCO director of meteorology Mike Augustyniak says that there might be an additional half-inch of snow for parts of the state before noon, but the bigger threat will be the high winds.

Winds have already started kicking up on the western side of the state, with gusts in excess of 40 miles per hour measured in Worthington and Marshall. Those winds will sweep eastward toward the rest of the state on Saturday.

With those winds, temperatures are also expected to drop beginning midmorning, so if you're planning on shoveling the snow on your sidewalks, earlier is better. By the dinner hour, temperatures will be in the single digits. Factoring in winds, it could feel significantly colder than that.

RELATED: Check out our list of closings and delays.

Blowing snow will be a problem all day Saturday, according to Augustyniak, which is why much of the western edge of the state, along with the south central swath, remain under a blizzard warning for the time being.

The Twin Cities National Weather Service says a wind chill advisory is in effect until 9 a.m. on Sunday for western and south-central Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. They recommend to bundle up if you must go outside.

The rest of the state is under a winter storm warning until 6 p.m.

In Two Harbors, officials have closed the Split Rock Lighthouse due to poor driving conditions.

In the metro area, snow totals hovered in the neighborhood of 5 to 6 inches. Some areas in the Arrowhead region of the state could still see another inch or two on Saturday.

The Minnesota State Patrol reported 683 crashes statewide between 5 a.m. Friday and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Of those, 42 involved injuries, one of them was deemed a serious injury and one fatal. There were an additional 662 spinouts and vehicles off the road tallied and 28 jackknifed semis.

As of 9:30 a.m., both Minneapolis and St. Paul had declared snow emergencies, and they were far from the only cities doing so. Click here to see if the rules for your city if you are under a snow emergency.

Now that a snow emergency has been declared, parking restriction will take effect beginning Saturday, otherwise you may be ticketed and towed.

The parking rules are as follows:

Saturday, Jan. 18, 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. (Day 1)
Do not park on EITHER side of a Snow Emergency route until 8 a.m., or the street is fully plowed.

Sunday, Jan. 19, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Day 2)
Do not park on the EVEN numbered side of a non-Snow Emergency route until 8 p.m., or that side of the street is fully plowed, or on EITHER side of a parkway until 8 p.m., or the parkway is fully plowed.

Monday, Jan. 20, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Day 3)
Do not park on the ODD numbered side of a non-Snow Emergency route until 8 p.m., or that side of the street is fully plowed.

Check out the street lookup, which lets you put in an address or neighborhood to see where you can park during a snow emergency.

For more information on snow emergencies in Minneapolis, visit minneapolismn.gov/snow.

Looking ahead, Augustyniak said that temperatures should rise back to above normal for this time of year by midweek.

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