A Few Flurries To End 2022 - Watching A Storm For Early Next Week

Well, we've made it to the end of another year, and this one could end with just a slight touch of snow falling from the sky across eastern Minnesota into Wisconsin as a system passes through. There isn't a lot of moisture available for this precipitation, so any snow/flurries that does fall will be light with little to no accumulation. Otherwise, mainly cloudy skies are expected across the state for the last day of the year with highs in the 20s and 30s.

As mentioned above, snow totals for the most part are expected to be light or non-existent from the snow/flurries on Saturday. The heaviest snow will be far up in the Arrowhead, where a half an inch to an inch will be possible.

The best chance of those light snow showers or flurries will be in the afternoon and evening hours in the metro. Morning temperatures start off in the low 20s with highs in the mid-30s.

If you're heading out for New Year's Eve, we still could see a few flurries around but more than likely skies will be just mainly cloudy. Temperatures slowly fall through the low 30s as we head toward Midnight.

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As we steamroll into the new year on Sunday, we'll see mainly cloudy skies across much of the state with highs in the 20s and 30s expected. It'll be a somewhat sleepy weather day - much like how you might feel if you stayed up past Midnight to celebrate!

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European model between 6 AM Monday and 6 AM Wednesday.

We continue to keep an eye on the likelihood of a major storm somewhere around the upper Midwest as we head later into Monday through Tuesday. There continues to be questions with this system with many moving parts, and many of our ensemble models have at least a slightly more northern track with the heavy snow vs. the European model that is shown above. It does appear this will bring us impactful weather later Monday through Tuesday, however, including some rain, freezing rain, and snow (depending where you are) through Monday Night and more of just all snow on Tuesday - and it is something to keep in the back of your mind as you head back to work for the first time or two in 2023.

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Significant Snow Possible Next Tuesday
By Paul Douglas

When will flesh and blood meteorologists go the way of Yellow Pages and 8-track tapes? Computers are getting smarter, and AI (artificial intelligence) promises exponential gains in memory, processing, even creativity.

At some point a really smart robot will provide you with a personalized weather forecast. It will remember nuance of every storm in the last 150 years and know (in real-time) which weather models are performing best. Forecasts still won't be perfect, but they will be consistently better. 5 years? 20 years? And will robots be forced to wear cheesy sport coats, clip-on ties and recite dreadful dad-jokes?

A quiet holiday weekend is on tap with sunny peeks; a thaw today, followed by a string of 20-degree days next week. I'm so happy to see "normal" again.

A storm forecast to track from Denver to Waterloo, Iowa will push a shield of snow into the metro area Tuesday, and plowable amounts are possible. ECMWF hints at 5-10".

C-3PO and Hal may disagree. Siri and Alexa - any opinion? Oh boy..

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SATURDAY: Clouds, few flakes. Wake up 22. High 34. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind SE 10-15 mph.

SUNDAY: Peeks of sun, good travel weather. Wake up 23. High 31. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind W 5-10 mph.

MONDAY: Cloudy with light snow late. Wake up 19. High 27. Chance of precipitation 60%. Wind NE 8-13 mph.

TUESDAY: Heavier snow, may be plowable. Wake up 25. High 28. Chance of precipitation 90%. Wind NE 15-30 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Snow tapers, still slushy. Wake up 21. High 25. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind NW 10-20 mph.

THURSDAY: Partly sunny, light winds. Wake up 11. High 23. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NW 5-10 mph.

FRIDAY: Light mix, possible icing? Wake up 17. High 33. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind SE 10-20 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
December 31st

*Length Of Day: 8 hours, 50 minutes, and 4 seconds
*Daylight GAINED Since Yesterday: 44 seconds

*When do we see 9 Hours of Daylight?: January 9th (9 hours, 0 minutes, 8 seconds)
*Latest Sunrise: December 30th-January 5th (7:51 AM)
*When is Sunset at/after 5 PM?: January 17th (5:00 PM)

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This Day in Weather History
December 31st

1999: It's a balmy end to the 2nd millennium over Minnesota, with temperatures in the 30s over central and southern Minnesota near midnight.

1937: Damage is done by a flood at Grand Marais, while 18 inches of snow is dumped on Grand Portage.

1913: New Ulm has its fortieth consecutive day without precipitation.

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As we head through the last day of 2022, we will be watching showers and thunderstorms along the East Coast, some snow showers in the Upper Midwest, and rain and snow chances with a strong atmospheric river out west.

For those ringing in the New Year Saturday night in Times Square, rain is expected with temperatures throughout the evening in the low 50s.

The heaviest rain and snow through the first day of 2023 will be out west, where easily 5"+ of rain and feet of snow will accumulate.

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Skiing over the Christmas holidays no longer guaranteed – even with snow guns

More from the University of Basel: "The future for ski sports in Switzerland looks anything but rosy – or rather white. Current climate models predict that there will be more precipitation in winter in the coming decades, but that it will fall as rain instead of snow. Despite this, one investor recently spent several million Swiss francs on expanding the Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis ski resort. A short-sighted decision they will regret in future? A research team led by Dr. Erika Hiltbrunner from the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Basel has now calculated the extent to which this ski resort can maintain its economically important Christmas holidays and a ski season of at least 100 days with and without snowmaking."

The Biggest Energy Surprises of 2022

More from Gizmodo: "It's been a hell of a year in energy. 2022 was full of historic changes—and quite a few surprises—as the world grappled with an energy crisis and reached a turning point in the energy transition. Here, we break down the top moments that made our eyebrows shoot up."

Ford Lightning owner powers home essentials for 2 days and still had battery left in the tank

More from Electrek: "Thousands of Canadian residents awoke Christmas Day with no electricity after a massive winter storm swept across the area. One southern Ontario resident was able to keep the lights on for almost two days after plugging in his Ford F-150 Lightning, and still had plenty of battery left after the power came back on. ... One Ford Lightning owner used his electric pickup's powerful battery to power their home essentials for 44 hours. RapsFanLJ posted a picture of his EV pickup on Reddit, saying, "this baby saved us.""

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Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

- D.J. Kayser