MONDAY AFTERNOON: WINTER STORM WARNING Continues thru 6am Tuesady. Mostly cloudy with falling steadily through the afternoon/evening with a total of 2" to 4" by the evening rush or dinner time. High: 20
MONDAY NIGHT: WINTER STORM WARNING Continues until 6am Tuesday. Snow continues overnight, but lightens by Tuesday morning. Another 2" to 4" possible. Low: 16
WEDNESDAY: Quiet with a mix of clouds and sun. High: 23
THURSDAY: Christmas EVE EVE looking like a partly snowy travel day, could see more snow accumulations, especially across southern MN... stay tuned. High: 25
FRIDAY: Christmas eve. Light snow chance early. Cooler with a few more peeks of sunshine late. High: Around 20
SATURDAY: Chilly Christmas day sunshine. Better travel day. High: Upper teens
SUNDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer, not a bad day to rest. High: Mid 20s
**MONDAY UPDATE**
WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES
Large swath of snow continues to push through the Upper Midwest - forecast still on track with total 4" to 8" across the region through early Tuesday morning. The bulk of the snow will come through this afternoon and taper late this evening.
Tracking Heavy Snow on Radar
The image below shows intense snow banding over Mankato, which can lead to snowfall rates of nearly 1" or more per hour. Track the local radar here:
Tracking snowfall rates based on visibility
The image below shows the two areas where moderate to heavy snow were occurring by early afternoon on Monday. Visibilities in these locations are down to 1/2 to 1/4 mile, which indicates 0.5" to nearly 1" snowfall rates.
Snowfall Reports as of 210pm Monday... More to Come
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
209 PM CST MON DEC 20 2010
...SNOWFALL TOTALS SO FAR FOR DECEMBER 20...
THE TOTALS BELOW ARE SEPARATED INTO SNOW...AND ICE AND SLEET
CATEGORIES...THEN BY AMOUNT...AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE
FINAL AMOUNT FOR EACH LOCATION.
SNOW REPORTS LISTED BY AMOUNT
INCHES LOCATION ST COUNTY TIME
------ ----------------------- -- -------------- -------
6.50 MADELIA MN WATONWAN 1249 PM
4.50 ST JAMES MN WATONWAN 1231 PM
4.00 MANKATO MN BLUE EARTH 0147 PM
2.50 NORTH MANKATO MN NICOLLET 1150 AM
SINCE 830 AM.
1.50 LAKEVILLE MN DAKOTA 0158 PM
1.30 1 WSW NEW BRIGHTON MN RAMSEY 0201 PM
1.20 RICE MN BENTON 0156 PM
1.00 RICHFIELD MN HENNEPIN 0159 PM
1.00 NORTH MANKATO MN NICOLLET 1047 AM
OVER PAST 2.5 HOURS
0.60 2 SW PRIOR LAKE MN SCOTT 1239 PM
0.50 SLEEPY EYE MN BROWN 0823 AM
0.40 RICHFIELD MN HENNEPIN 1242 PM
IN PAST HOUR How Much More?
Again, we're still on track for a large swath of nearly 4" to 8" Storm Total across the region with the heaviest coming through during the rest of the afternoon/early evening. Your commute home WILL BE VERY SLOW! Snow will taper late this evening and will be left to a few light snow showers or flurries by Tuesday morning. Your commute tomorrow morning may, still, be a bit slow, but not as bad as the Monday PM rush. We're still watching for, potentially, another round of snow this week by Wednesday night into Thursday, but as now, the bulk of the moisture appears to be tracking to our south... Stay tuned - Todd Nelson
**PREVIOUS DISCUSSION**
Here We Go Again!
Say it ain't so... Another white knuckle commute is shaping up this afternoon/evening and likely again tomorrow morning as a winter storm bears down on the region. WINTER STORM WARNINGS have been issued for most of central Minnesota, including St. Cloud and the Twin Cities in advance of another shovelable/plowable snow.
Your ride into work or school should be fine today, but snow starts around late morning/midday and continues to fall steadily through the afternoon and evening hours. By the evening rush, we may already have 2" to 4" on the ground. No doubt, it'll be an interesting night as bright white flakes fall on TCF Bank Stadium for the first outdoor NFL football game in the Twin Cities since the "Old Met" days back in 1981.
Snow Removal Time Lapse for the TCF Band Stadium
There was a lot of work that went into getting the TCF Bank Stadium ready for the big Monday Night Football game. The estimate was 15,000 man hours!! If you haven't seen the snow removal time lapse for the stadium you have to check it out. View time lapse HERE:
Snow will taper through the overnight hours and total snow accumulations by Tuesday morning could be around 4" to 8" - It is important to note that there appears to be a trend in the where the lighter/heavier amounts of snow may be found. It appears the lighter amounts will be found on the south and east side of town and the heavier amounts will be on the north and west side of town. We'll have more updates through the day on Monday with any change in the track of the heaviest snow amounts around the region.
Round #2 of Snow This Week
Those with holiday travel plans week, may want to think about leaving either later Tuesday or during the day on Wednesday. If this snowy December hasn't been enough already, there may be more accumulating snow on the way for Thursday... good grief! As of now, it appears the bulk of the moisture will be to our south, but it's still a developing system... stay tuned.
Extremely Rare Solstice Lunar Eclipse
The information below comes from: www.spaceweather.com: "The lunar eclipse of Dec. 21st falls on the same date as the northern winter solstice. Is this rare? It is indeed, according to Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory, who inspected a list of eclipses going back 2000 years. "Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is Dec. 21, 1638," says Chester. "Fortunately we won't have to wait 372 years for the next one...that will be on Dec. 21, 2094."
Too bad we'll be clouded over, but if you're interested... WHEN TO LOOK: The total eclipse lasts more than an hour from 02:41 am to 03:53 am EST on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st. Any time within that interval is a good time to look. For other time zones, consult Shadow & Substance's animated eclipse.
Have a good Monday - Todd Nelson
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