Nice weather for sledding or shoveling snow; south and east metro had highest totals – MPR News

Parked vehicles are buried under well over a foot of snow on Saturday morning, Dec. 11, 2021 in South St. Paul, Minn.

Andrew Krueger | MPR News

It was a real dumping of snow in the south and east portions of the Twin Cities metro area Friday afternoon into Friday night.

A nearly-stationary band of heavy snow was parked over those areas for several hours Friday evening, with snowfall rates of around 2 inches per hour. The snow was fluffy, with a snow-to water ratio of about 16.6 to 1, which helped those snow totals grow quickly.

Snow totals

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport had a storm total of 11.8 inches. I saw 18 inch snowfall reports from Eagan and Rosemount. 18.9 inches in Inver Grove Heights, 19 in Lakeville and 17.7 in Jordan. One observer in Woodbury had 20 inches, and there was a report of 21 inches from the east side of St. Paul. My tally in St. Paul was 10.2 inches. I saw a report of 8.1 inches in southwest Minneapolis and 6 inches in Excelsior. Elk River, on the northwest side of the metro area, tallied just 3.5 inches of new snow.

This is how the NWS 24-hoursnow maplooked at 10 a.m. Saturday:

Snow reports for Friday into early Saturday

National Weather Service

The bigger picture looked like this:

Snow reports for Friday into early Saturday

National Weather Service

You can hover over any data point on the linked NWS snowfall map to see the location and time of the snow measurement. You can also slide the map to see snow reports in other parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Not all the snow reports are storm totals; sometimes a report comes in before the snow has ended.

Updated Minnesota road conditions can be foundhere. Wisconsin road conditions can be foundhere.

Good cleanup weather

The storm system is moving away, leaving us with plenty of sunshine for shoveling, plowing or playing in the snow.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations High-Resolution Rapid-Refresh (HRRR) model shows the potential precipitation pattern from noon to 5 p.m. today:

Simulated radar noon to 5 p.m. Saturday

NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio Newsnetwork, and you can see updated weather info on the MPR Newslive weather blog.

Tornado fatalities Friday evening in several states to the south

Severe damage is seen in downtown Mayfield, Ky., on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, after a tornado swept through the area the previous night.

Brett Carlsen | Getty Images

A tornado outbreak moved through parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee Friday evening.

The NWS Storm Prediction Center depicts Friday evening tornado reports with red dots on the following map:

Storm reports from Dec. 10 (red indicates tornado reports)

NWS Storm Prediction Center

There may be dozens of fatalities. Updates can be found here.

Temperature trends

Our average Twin Cities high is 30 degrees on Dec. 11. Saturday highs will be near or slightly above 30 in the metro area, with lower 30s in southern Minnesota and upper 20s to the north. Itll be a bit breezy Saturday afternoon.

Sunday highs reach the 30s in most areas:

Sunday forecast highs

National Weather Service

Sunday wind gusts of 16-24 mph are exepected:

Sunday noon forecast wind gusts

National Weather Service

Forecast wind gusts are in knots, with 17 knots equal to 19.6 mph.

Back to temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 30s Monday and around 40 Tuesday, followed by upper 40s Wednesday. Lower 30s are on tap for Thursday, then well top out around 30 on Friday.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.

You make MPR News possible. Individual donations are behind the clarity in coverage from our reporters across the state, stories that connect us, and conversations that provide perspectives. Help ensure MPR remains a resource that brings Minnesotans together.

Donate today. A gift of $17 makes a difference.

Read the original here:
Nice weather for sledding or shoveling snow; south and east metro had highest totals - MPR News