It is already raining across a portion of Minnesota this Thursday, and WCCO Chief Meteorologist Paul Douglas says that rain is going to stick around longer than previously thought which will pretty much turn this snow event into a non-event for a large portion of the Twin Cities.
“It really does depend on where you live,” says Douglas. “And certainly the farther north you go away from the metro, the better the odds of plowable snow today. I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the snowfall potential for the immediate Twin Cities for a variety of reasons.”
Much of the precipitation will fall as rain later this morning and the rain will continue into midday and then gradually mix with and change over to wet snow later.
“So half the precipitation will fall as rain,” he predicts. “The other half wet snow. It’s still going to be above freezing for the drive home. I expect wet freeways. Not a big deal. After dark is when the snow should start to stick. Even on the freeways, it may stay wet but certainly secondary roads, bridge overpasses, some of the alleyways may get slushed up overnight.”
Douglas says he is dropping snow totals for the main part of the metro area now that they have a better idea what the temperatures will be.
“I've downgraded this thing to one to three inches,” Douglas told Vineeta Sawkar Thursday morning. “I know the weather service is still saying two to five. I could see five to six up towards Saint Cloud, far north metro, Princeton, Mille Lacs area. If you're heading up to Duluth, a cool half foot there. But here in the metro there's just going to be too much rain, too much warmth to see the full amount of snow that we thought might fall a few days ago.”
Douglas says the drive to work could be a little bit slower Friday morning because it's going to be in the 20s.
“But things mellow a little bit after a very chilly St. Patty's Day tomorrow,” says Douglas. “Coldest in 30 years. It's going to be in the low to mid-twenties. We should warm up above 40 almost every day next week.”
Douglas adds that some of the models say temps could be in the 50s south of the metro by the middle part of next week.
“So there are some vague, subtle hints of spring and the fact that we're getting rain now in the forecast to go with our snow is another sign that the atmosphere is shifting gears,” he says. “Give it about a month. I think it'll be greening up. I know it's hard to imagine. But middle, certainly by the end of April, I think spring green up might be delayed a week or two this year.”
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