Some Snow Possible For The Friday Morning Commute - Eyes On The Storm Next Week

Forecast loop from 6 PM Thursday to 6 PM Friday.

As we head through Thursday night into Friday we will be watching a batch of snow and freezing rain pushing north out of Iowa into southern Minnesota, with snow reaching the metro just before the morning rush. While the heaviest snow that falls across the metro would be during the morning hours, lingering snow showers or flurries could continue into the afternoon.

Across the Twin Cities, the south metro will see the heaviest snow amounts with maybe an inch or two possible. The heaviest snow will far down toward I-90, where amounts up to 6" will be possible. In southern Minnesota will be where the best chance of some freezing rain will also occur, with maybe up to 0.05" causing slick roads.

So in the metro through at least the morning hours we will be watching the potential for a few snow showers that'll move in just in time for rush hour. It should taper to mainly flurries by the afternoon. Morning temperatures will be in the mid-to-upper 20s with highs in the mid-30s.

It'll be a mainly cloudy Friday across the state (best chance of some sunshine: northwestern Minnesota) with some snow showers or mixed precipitation across southern Minnesota. Highs range from the 20s to the 30s.

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Forecast loop from 6 PM Friday to 6 PM Saturday.

A glaze of ice to 0.05" could be possible on Saturday across portions of central and southern Minnesota - including in the metro - leading to slick conditions. The best chance of an inch or more of snow will be up along the North Shore.

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Highs this weekend will be in the low to mid-30s here in the metro as we watch that drizzle/freezing drizzle chance of Saturday and maybe a few flurries on Sunday.

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A messy, impactful system is expected to move right into the Upper Midwest as we head through next week. Precipitation looks to start Monday Night into Tuesday across the region, with snow chances lingering through Thursday. A lot of what happens depends on the actual track of the system, which this far out certainly still has a bunch of uncertainty to it. However, I would expect travel to be greatly impacted across the state Tuesday into Wednesday from this system - so start thinking about your plans and maybe have some alternative plans in place.

Nuisance Slush Today - Major Storm Next Week
By Paul Douglas

A major storm is brewing for the middle of next week (how many inches of snow, Paul - I demand to know right now!) Odds are this will be a relatively mild, March-like system with more rain than snow in the metro, but there is a potential for 10"+ amounts for parts of northern and western Minnesota, deeper into the cold air (how will this affect my commute? I have a right to know.) This far out many details are unknowable, but models are consistent in dropping nearly an inch of liquid-equivalent from this storm. That's how much precipitation normally falls all of December.

A slow-moving storm tracking from Denver to Madison will tap a deep reservoir of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, and any mixed precipitation will probably end as a few slushy inches in the metro by Thursday. I'm already exhausted.

Today MSP sees a coating, with 2-5" falling on far southern Minnesota. A light sloppy mix arrives Saturday, but temperatures rise above 32F, keeping most roads wet. Questions? No? Great! A sloppy 7-Day for sure.

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FRIDAY: Coating to 1" slush. Wake up 27. High 33. Chance of precipitation 80%. Wind E 7-12 mph.

SATURDAY: Flurries and drizzle. Mainly wet roads. Wake up 31. High 35. Chance of precipitation 70%. Wind SE 7-12 mph.

SUNDAY: A few peeks of sun, decent travel. Wake up 27. High 36. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 5-10 mph.

MONDAY: Cloudy and quiet. Wake up 23. High 34. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SE 10-20 mph.

TUESDAY: Heavier snow mixing with rain. Wake up 29. High 35. Chance of precipitation 90%. Wind SE 15-25 mph.

THURSDAY: Colder, couple inches of snow? Wake up 32. High 34. Chance of precipitation 80%. Wind N 10-20 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
December 9th

*Length Of Day: 8 hours, 52 minutes, and 4 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 59 seconds

*Shortest Daylight Of The Year: December 21st (8 hours, 46 minutes, 10 seconds)
*Latest Sunrise: December 30th-January 5th (7:51 AM)
*Earliest Sunset: December 5th-December 13th (4:31 PM)

This Day in Weather History
December 9th

2003: Significant snow with amounts between 6 to 10 inches falls from southwest Minnesota across the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and into west central Wisconsin. Winds across the area were 25 to 30 mph, with blowing and drifting snow in open areas. Although some parts of far south central Minnesota only picked up 4 to 6 inches, winds in this area were a little stronger, creating near-blizzard conditions. The greatest snowfall totals occurred in the Twin Cities metro, where Chaska, Chanhassen and New Hope all picked up 11 inches. Ten inches were recorded at Lamberton, Springfield and Gaylord. There was a sharp cutoff on the northern edge of the snow; Lamberton in southernmost Redwood County tallied 10 inches, while 25 miles to the north at Belview in far northern Redwood County, only 2 inches was recorded. Rockford, straddling the Hennepin/Wright County line, received 6 inches, whereas Buffalo, 10 miles to the northwest in central Wright County, only received 1 inch.

1995: The passage of a strong low pressure system on the 8th leads to wind chill readings of 50 to 75 below as strong northwest winds of 25 to 40 mph ushered significantly colder air across the region. The dangerously cold wind chill readings persisted through the morning of the 9th.

1961: A snowstorm hits central Minnesota. Mora gets about a foot.

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Heavy rain and snow are expected out west, with feet of snow from the Cascades to the Sierra and over 3-5" of rain for parts of Oregon and northern California. A band of 2-6" snow is expected in the Upper Midwest, and 1-3" of rain will be possible in the mid-Mississippi Valley through Saturday.

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Hurricane's effects killed sturgeon in Apalachicola River

More from UGA Today: "As hurricane Michael churned through the Gulf of Mexico to make landfall near Florida's Apalachicola River in 2018, it left a sea of destruction in its wake. The path was easy to follow on land, but debris and infrastructure failures also diminished the river's water quality and led to the death of roughly half the gulf sturgeon population there. A study by researchers at the University of Georgia with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reveals new details in how a decrease in oxygen levels affected the river's ability to sustain life in the days following the historic Category 5 storm. The results were published in the December issue of Transactions of the American Fisheries Society."

'A more profound appreciation for the complexity of natural ice formations': Researchers unlock cause of ripples on icicles

STUDY SHOWS THE MAJORITY OF CALIFORNIA'S COASTAL AIRPORTS ARE VULNERABLE TO INCREASED FLOODING CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

More from SRA: "Most of California's population and its largest airports are located along the Pacific coastline, which is increasingly impacted by storm surges, sea level rise, and erosion due to climate change. In the next 30 years, sea level along the coast is expected to rise as much as 8 inches. All of this means more frequent and far-reaching flooding that will impact critical infrastructure like roads, power plants, and airports. A new study by scientists at University of California – Berkeley, has found that 39 out of 43 coastal airports in California have assets exposed to projected flooding that could disrupt their operations in the next 20 to 40 years. Sarah Lindbergh of University of California, Berkeley, will present her team's findings during the Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, Dec. 4-8 in Tampa, Florida."

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