Ice storm targets the area

While other parts of Minnesota dive into the heavy snow, our area will likely be slipping and sliding on ice from freezing rain. The key timeframe for icing looks to be Monday night through mid-day on Tuesday. The range of 1/4″ to 1/2″ looks to be the range to shoot for. A few in NE Iowa may fall outside the low end of the range.

Outside of the expected icy roads, the wind is one thing to watch with so much accumulation. Gusts will reach 25-30 mph on Tuesday morning and may mean some downed tree limbs and possible power outages.

Some brief warming above freezing temps looks to take place for Tuesday afternoon and will help all around, but wintry mix of freezing drizzle/rain sleet and snow will round this one out Tuesday night into Wednesday, gradually transitioning to light snow in the stretch. Up to 3″ of snow is possible locally. The highest amounts will trend north of US 14. Most of this will fall in the second portion of this storm.

The cutoff line between snow/freezing rain is close by just off our northern edge. We’ll need to watch that to see if snow totals will need to be upped locally and ice trended down. Either way, if we escape one threat, there’s another to take its place.