A few precipitation chances to watch next week

While there does not appear to be any threat of a substantial winter storm system during the coming week, there are a few precipitation chances worth mentioning across the area.

The first chance comes Monday late morning, through the afternoon hours. An area of low pressure will pass us by to the north during the day on Monday. As it does so, it may provide just enough forcing to kick of a few scattered rain/snow showers, especially across our southern Minnesota counties.

This will not be a major precipitation event by any means, with many locations remaining dry and very little rain/snow accumulation.

The best chance for a more widespread snow arrives late Tuesday afternoon through early Wednesday morning. Model guidance is still a bit up in the air on exact timing and location, but agrees on a round of more widespread snow making its way across the area during this time window.

Accumulation potential is in the 1″-2″ ballpark, but it is hard to pinpoint where the higher totals will be when model guidance is still showing various different outcomes. No major accumulations, but enough to lead to another bout of slick road conditions across southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa.

Snow exits the area by midmorning on Wednesday, with yet another chance of snow on Thursday. Model guidance is split 50-50 on whether this system impacts our area or completely misses us to the north, so just something to watch for now.

Other than that, things look to quiet down toward the end of next week and into the weekend, with much colder temperatures arriving as well. No extreme cold, but with lows in the single digits once again, it certainly warrants continued use of those heavy jackets, coats and gloves!