Move over, spring; winter is back, at least for southern Minnesota.
A snowstorm is expected to dump up to 6 inches of snow across the Twin Cities and as much as a foot in southern and southeastern Minnesota, Andy Lahr, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, said Tuesday afternoon.
Snow is expected to begin falling in the morning and to taper off by early Thursday. Northeast winds with gusts as high as 30 miles per hour could blow it around.
By late Tuesday, some meteorologists were reporting that the storm's line had moved southward, and that the Twin Cities might get less snow than had been expected earlier.
The south and east metro areas, including Dakota and Scott counties, will get hit the hardest, with up to 6 inches of snow, Lahr said. "The north metro could get a couple of inches or less, and maybe nothing north of there," he said.
The heaviest snow will fall in a line from Albert Lea to Rochester to Eau Claire, Wis.
After a warm March and Tuesday's highs in the 50s to near 60 in the metro and southern Minnesota, the winter wallop might be a bit hard to stomach. The good news is that it's March and the snow won't last long.
Behind the storm, the sun will come out on Thursday, with highs in the upper 30s. Easter weekend looks to be seasonable, with Sunday bringing sunshine and highs in the mid-40s, Hultquist said.