Douglas: Icy slush Saturday, then another thaw

“Nothing between Minnesota and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence,” someone told me shortly after arriving in Minnesota for the first time in 1983. He was trying to prepare me for a Minnesota winter.

KARE-11 kept me off the air for three months until I learned how to pronounce “Edina,” “Isanti” and “Koochiching.” That winter a record 98.6 inches of snow fell. Making a simple turn at some intersections became problematic because it was impossible to see over 10-foot piles of snow.

You remember snow? In theory, on paper, the metro should have picked up 11.7 inches by now. So far this winter? A little over 2 inches. Sigh. We are getting the cold; now all we need is the cold to sync up with southern moisture to get a real snowstorm.

I don’t see any heavy dumpings between now and Christmas, but can I interest you in an inch of icy slush late Friday into Saturday? The indignity of freezing rain.

I see a thaw Sunday, and a few “nuisance” snows Monday and Wednesday. Big whoop. Negative 7 degrees early Thursday at MSP and -26 degrees at Warroad and Ely. Fresh air!