Round #1 of Snow This Week

Todd's SCTIMES Outlook for St. Cloud and all of central Minnesota

MONDAY: WINTER STORM WARNING 6am Monday thru 6am Tuesady. Mostly cloudy with snow developing by late morning/midday and falling steadily through the afternoon with 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

TUESDAY: Winter Storm Warning ends at 6am for a storm total of 4" to 8" by early morning. Snow flurries taper through the day. Winter Solstice arrives at 5:38pm. It's OFFICIALLY winter!!  High: 26

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


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:

How Much Snow?
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