A potent early March storm is promising to pack a punch in parts of southern Minnesota as it spins through the region Tuesday and Wednesday, and the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch ahead of its arrival.
The NWS says south-central and southeastern Minnesota – including Dakota County in the Twin Cities metro – are under a blizzard watch, with heavy snow set to combine with strong winds gusts of between 40-50 mph.
In eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, the NWS is forecasting 4-8 inches of snow. For the Twin Cities, there’s basically a 50-50 chance of snow exceeding 4 inches, but only a 25% chance of topping 6 inches.
Across south-central Minnesota and up to the southeastern Twin Cities metro, 4-8 inches of snow is possible in addition to winds gusting up to 50 mph. That could lead to significant blowing and drifting issues.
Official snowfall forecast from the NWS: There could be a sharp gradient in the Twin Cities, with northwestern areas of the metro ending up with 1-2 inches while the southeastern suburbs potentially exceed 6 inches.
Precipitation will start out as rain Tuesday afternoon and evening before rapidly changing to snow Tuesday night. The system will be out of the area by midday Wednesday. Bottom line: it’s going to hit hard and fast.
“Significant blowing and drifting of snow is likely on Wednesday with visibilities dropping to near zero with brief whiteout conditions possible,” the forecast discussion from the NWS Twin Cities reads. “Wet snow and strong winds may lead to sporadic power outages due to down branches.”…