Brandon Weatherz: Mix, snow, and winds linger today

Yesterday’s messy system will continue to impact travel today. Snow and ice is being reported on many Northland roads, and additional ice, snow and winds will be contenders for our Wednesday. All of northeast Minnesota is in a Winter Storm Warning until 7 pm as additional snow and winds make travel difficult through the afternoon.

Wednesday brought 2.3” of snow officially in Duluth, bringing our season total to 131.3” and ranking as the third snowiest season on record. By the time this system is done, we should be in 2nd place, but we’ll still be short of the record 135.4”.

This morning, the Arrowhead and northwest Wisconsin are in the warm sector of the system with rain, freezing rain, and wintry mix. Meanwhile, northwest Minnesota has been in the cold sector with snow. The system exits to the northeast through the day, allowing a strong east wind in the morning to switch out of the west, and opening the gates to colder air that turns lingering precip to snow this morning and afternoon. Winds gusting near 50 mph will continue to create blowing snow and reduced visibility.

The heaviest accumulation still to come will be northwest in Koochiching County where additional snow after 6 am of more than 6” is possible. Amounts drop off moving southeast with 2-4” still to come for the Iron Range and around an inch in the Twin Ports. East central Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin will see near or under an inch of additional snow. Most of the snow will have fallen by 7 pm. Scattered snow showers will linger tonight into tomorrow with light additional accumulation, mostly north of the Twin Ports.