The snow this morning was mainly confined to the eastern one-third of North Dakota into western Minnesota. Moving east at a steady pace.
The snow is projected to be done by noon for most of North Dakota with only some very light wrap around snow expected in the afternoon.
There will be some wind on the backside of the low that is pushing through the area, so overnight a steady 20-30 mph wind with some higher gusts is expected.
Although this will bring in much colder air and some blowing and drifting snow, the wind should keep the temperature from getting too cold overnight.
The real cold will hold off until Saturday when an area of Arctic high pressure will move overhead. Temperatures in the -10s and -20s foreseen in locations with a fresh snow cover from today’s event, with some localized -30° temperatures north of Highway 2 in northeastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota.
A weak disturbance will pass through on Sunday and behind that system there will be another surge of cold air. The coldest morning after Sunday may be on Tuesday when low temperatures may also drop into the -20s in some areas.
But at the moment it appears slightly warmer next Tuesday than what is expected on Saturday morning.
Beyond Tuesday, the rest of next week looks to be a bit warmer with more seasonal temperatures (highs in the 20s). There will likely be an occasional weak disturbance in our northwest flow (persistent wind aloft from the NW), but today’s event looks to be the main event in the next week plus, although, Sunday’s event clearly could bring some accumulation to the area. A light dusting may even happen Thursday night. But today’s event just appears to be the strongest for a while as the pattern that has dominated the weather all winter looks to be back in place after today.
Daryl Ritchison