Saturday, December 31, 2011

Winter Storm Warning?

Much to my surprise this morning, on the final day of 2011, Winter Storm Warnings have been posted issued for a good portion of east central Minnesota into northwest Wisconsin.

  • Winter Storm Warning valid at Dec 31, 9:00 PM CST for Anoka, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Isanti, Le Sueur, Ramsey, Rice, Scott, Steele, Waseca, Washington [MN] and Barron, Polk, St. Croix [WI] till Jan 01, 6:00 AM CST
  • Winter Storm Warning valid at Dec 31, 4:00 PM CST for Pine [MN] and Burnett, Douglas, Sawyer, Washburn [WI] till Jan 01, 12:00 PM CST

warningmap

A low pressure center and associated cold front is expected to move on top of southern Minnesota by the evening hours, generating precipitation and gusty winds along with it.

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This storm system is forecasted to have up to a half-inch of of liquid precipitation to work with.  The precipitation will start as rain before changing over to snow by around midnight.

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The latest NAM is spitting out generally one to three inches of snow across the Twin Cities.

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This will be a wet snow, so I think a range of one to three inches of snow across the Twin Cities seems like a real possibility.

snowratio12312011

Winds will be kicking up towards midnight with sustained winds between 20-30 MPH with gusts to 40 MPH or higher!  This will result in some blowing snow and reduced visibilities.  Fortunately, we are not looking at a ton of snow, so it should not be too much of a problem.

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Stay safe on this New Year Eve and don’t drive home drunk.  Have a sober ride lined up.  The weather conditions will be a challenge during the overnight for even the sober of drivers.

RS

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