Snowstorm Winding Down Friday - Colder Temperatures On The Way

The snow has been piling up on the North Shore, where over two feet has been reported! The top total out has been out of Finland where 29" of snow was reported Thursday morning. Through about 11:30 AM, the official reporting station in Duluth (at the NWS) reported 22.7" of snow - making it the 7th largest 2-day unique storm snow total on record (this is because if you just went with 2-day totals - without factoring out the same storm showing up twice - the Halloween blizzard falls into two spots).

Meanwhile, this system brought two periods of official blizzard conditions (at least three hours of frequent 35 mph wind gusts causing snow to reduce visibility to a quarter mile or less) to Duluth.

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Forecast loop from 6 PM Thursday to 6 AM Saturday.

Tired of the snow yet? No? Well, I have news for you! The system that has been plaguing the region with heavy, wet snow and blizzard conditions up north will slowly be coming to an end through Friday into Friday night - but snow is still expected to fall across much of the state.

Forecast 24-hour snow through 6 AM Saturday

Overall Friday into Friday night an additional 1" or so of snow could fall across the state as this system slowly comes to an end.

With more snow in the forecast for the metro on Friday, temperatures will be fairly steady - within a few degrees of 30F throughout the day. Winds will be a little stronger than Thursday - out of the northwest up to around 15 mph.

Again, we'll keep track of the snowstorm as it slowly winds down across the state on Friday. With the snow showers in place, highs will be in the 20s and 30s. Keep an eye out west - that's a sign of the colder air moving in for the weekend.

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After the additional Friday snowfall, we could still see a few flurries or early morning snow showers around - but cooler air starts to move in with cloudy skies. Highs will be in the low 20s on Saturday. Skies remain partly sunny on Sunday with much cooler air in place - only a high in the low teens.

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The coldest air of the season so far is expected to plow into the upper Midwest behind our extended snow storm into next week, with a second batch of cooler air moving in toward late next week. Highs even in the metro may barely make it above zero by Thursday and Friday. If you wanted to know, the coldest day so far at MSP this season was December 3rd with a high of 14F and a low of 4F - so it looks even colder than that!

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We'll be watching two chances of snow next week - one late Monday into Monday Night (which would be light - mainly under a half an inch) and another toward the middle of the week (shown via the European model above for Wednesday Night). We'll have to keep an eye on it the next several days - but models have been trending it farther south over the past day. With that chilly air in place, it'll be more difficult to remove snow and ice from the roadways - so travel could be a bit tricky no matter how much snow we get.

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Arctic Trauma: Fear Of Our Holiday Weather
By Paul Douglas

I have family members who refuse to fly to Minnesota for Christmas. It's either my cooking, personality defects or a supernatural fear of our super-sized winters. It might be all 3.

My father and sister flew out a few years ago to celebrate Christmas with our expanding Minnesota family, only to experience face-pinching subzero cold. I think they were traumatized. My admonishments went unheeded. "Hey, with the right wardrobe and boots you're fine!" Earmuffs and warm gloves go a long way - dress in layers!" I tried.

Christmas 2022 will be subzero, at least at night, and the arrival of the first subzero smack of winter may set off a few more inches of powdery, windblown snow the middle of next week. Travel may be tricky the latter half of next week from the Midwest to the East Coast and New England, as arctic air sloshing southward spins up a series of snowstorms.

In the meantime snow tapers a bit today. Enjoy 30 (above) because highs may dip below zero by late week. Encourage family to bring extra clothes.

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

FRIDAY: Light snow, another 1-2". Wake up 29. High 32. Chance of precipitation 100%. Wind NW 10-15 mph.

SATURDAY: Clouds and flurries. Wake up 19. High 23. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind NW 10-20 mph.

SUNDAY: Colder with peeks of sunshine. Wake up 3. High 11. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NW 8-13 mph.

MONDAY: Clouds increase, numbing. Wake up -1. High 12. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind NW 5-10 mph.

TUESDAY: Early flakes, then clearing. Wake up 0. High 8. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind NW 10-15 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Powdery snow developing, slick late? Wake up -8. High 0. Chance of precipitation 80%. Wind NW 7-12 mph.

THURSDAY: Snow tapers, Gusty, feels like -25F. Wake up -12. High -4. Chance of precipitation 50%. Wind NW 15-25 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
December 16th

*Length Of Day: 8 hours, 47 minutes, and 14 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 27 seconds

*Shortest Daylight Of The Year: December 21st (8 hours, 46 minutes, 10 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 16th

2000: A surface low pressure system tracks east-northeast through Iowa on the 18th and then into western Illinois during the early evening hours. Extreme south central and southeast Minnesota received 6 to 10 inches of snow, including Albert Lea with 10.5 inches, Kiester and Bixby with 6.0 inches.

1972: Fairmont has its fifteenth consecutive day with lows at or below zero degrees Fahrenheit.

1940: A snowstorm hits much of Minnesota. Water equivalent of the snow was 1.27 inches at Winona.

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On Friday, the area of low pressure in the Upper Midwest will continue to produce snow showers across the region. With a coastal low along the East Coast, snow and ice will be possible in mainly interior areas stretching to the Maine coast. A cold rain is expected along most of the I-95 corridor.

The heaviest additional snow through Saturday will be in interior New England, where 6-12" (with higher elevation 24") totals are possible. Heavier rain of at least 1-2" will be possible along the East Coast.

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Drought emergency declared for all Southern California

More from the Los Angeles Times: "As California faces the prospect of a fourth consecutive dry year, officials with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California have declared a regional drought emergency and called on water agencies to immediately reduce their use of all imported supplies. The decision from the MWD's board came about eight months after officials declared a similar emergency for 7 million people who are dependent on supplies from the State Water Project, a vast network of reservoirs, canals and dams that convey water from Northern California. Residents reliant on California's other major supply — the Colorado River — had not been included in that emergency declaration. "Conditions on the Colorado River are growing increasingly dire," MWD Chairwoman Gloria Gray said in a statement. "We simply cannot continue turning to that source to make up the difference in our limited state supplies. In addition, three years of California drought are drawing down our local storage.""

State of the climate: 2022 is currently tied for fourth warmest year on record

More from Carbon Brief: "This year has been one of extremes, featuring record-shattering summer heatwaves and devastating floods. Western Europe and parts of Asia have had their warmest year on record so far (from January through October). Globally, 2022 so far is the fourth warmest year on record. This is despite the persistent La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, which are having a cooling influence on global temperatures. Overall, 2022 is on track to be somewhere between the fourth and sixth warmest year on record – depending on what happens during the final two months of the year. Despite not setting a new global temperature record – which is not unusual, as even in a warming world most individual years will not – 2022 will still be one of the warmest years since records began in the late 1800s. Temperatures will end up around the level expected by climate models and are consistent with the long-term warming trend over the past 50 years."

Fire weather extremes make prescribed burns riskier, but more essential than ever

More from KUNR: "The U.S. Forest Service halted their prescribed burns this summer following an out-of-control burn in New Mexico that became the worst wildfire in the state's history. Moreover, for Nevada land managers — including many with ties to local tribes — climate change is making it more difficult to put "good" fire on the ground. In the Pine Nut Mountains on Washoe tribal land in northwestern Nevada, a pinyon-juniper forest grows out of control. Rhiana Jones and Billy Hawk Enos are land management experts from the Washoe Environmental Protection Department. They survey the patch of forest, pointing out the subtle signs of its decline. The pines grow almost on top of each other, and many are dead from disease and drought. The forest carpet is ankle-deep, covered in fallen needles, twigs, and branches — fine fuels that would feed a fire. The dry timber could easily go up in flames."

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Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

- D.J. Kayser