Snow Sunday evening, a chilly start to the week, watching another storm system

Happy Sunday everyone!

The primary weather feature to keep an eye on this afternoon and evening is a snow band stretching from the Twin Cities down to Des Moines, IA. This band is slowly drifting east/southeast, and will begin entering the viewing area within the next hour or two.

Snow showers will remain likely across the region until about 10:00PM tonight or so, bringing a quick round of accumulating snow. Most locations will likely see accumulations in the 1 to 2 inch range, with a few isolated higher totals possible. While no significant travel impacts are anticipated, the roads may become slick, especially this evening.

Clouds decrease tonight and into Monday morning, giving way to plenty of sun during the day on Monday. It will be quite chilly though, with daytime highs in the upper 30F’s to lower 40F’s. Winds will be lighter, with northerly winds between 5 to 10 mph.

Clouds decrease Monday night as another potent winter storm approaches our area. As Tuesday progresses, widespread rain/snow showers will overspread the area from southwest to northeast. High temperatures will be in the lower 40F’s Tuesday afternoon, allowing for a transition to rain, especially across northern Iowa. As of right now, accumulating snow is possible, with 1 to 3 inches possible, especially across southeastern Minnesota.

Temperatures drop briefly Tuesday night, before rebounding as the night progresses. This will allow any snow to turn to rain across the region after the warm front passes through. Rain remains likely into Wednesday, especially during the morning hours, with highs in the mid to upper 50F’s.

The Storm Prediction Center has portions of our viewing area south of I-90 under a marginal risk of severe weather (level 1 out of 5) for Tuesday night. However, there is a good possibility that thunderstorms remain south of our area due to a lack of instability. Will monitor closely for the time being and provide updates as they become available.

By Wednesday night, precipitation will depart the area to the east, giving way to mostly cloudy skies into Thursday, with highs in the mid to upper 40F’s.

Periods of sun return Friday, with a fair deal of cloud cover at times too. Highs will be slightly warmer, in the low 50F’s for most locations. Weather conditions remain quiet through next weekend, with highs in the mid 50F’s Saturday, and mid to upper 40F’s Sunday.

For now, the active weather continues until Thursday, so pay close attention to the forecast the next few days!