(FOX 9) – A blast of winter weather pushing into parts of Minnesota on Wednesday is likely to bring blizzard-like conditions to much of southern Minnesota.
Mid-March snowstorm
What we know:
A swath of heavy accumulating snow and strong gusty winds will lead to white-out conditions at times inside a band of heavy wet slushy snow on Wednesday. The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for areas most likely to see this combo, which includes much of southern Minnesota. The rest of southern Minnesota will likely be added to the warning area barring drastic changes in the current forecast track.
Areas south of the metro to the Iowa border are likely to see whiteout conditions at times courtesy of our heavy snow and strong winds, so expect impossible travel and road closures along I-90 and the southern end of I-35.
The snow will begin right around sunrise for much of southern Minnesota and taper around or before sunset across our Wisconsin counties. The flakes will come down very heavily at times from late morning through the afternoon hours. The Twin Cities metro area is very much on the northwestern edge of this band of snow where we may waffle in and out of some snow throughout the day.
Big picture view:
The snow hitting Minnesota is part of a larger system that will push across the Plains states. Strong winds will impact many areas, but blizzard warnings stretch from Kansas to southern Minnesota, where heavy snow will fall with those strong winds.
Local perspective:
There will likely be a very sharp cutoff to the accumulating snow across the Twin Cities metro. The current forecast thinking is that parts of the far northwestern metro may not even receive a flake, while sections of the southeast metro get 6-plus inches of snow. A 20 or 30-mile “wobble” in the overall path of this storm will have HUGE impacts on just how much each section of the metro receives, so you will have to stay tuned for the very latest.
As always, FOX 9 will be tracking the winter weather as it develops. You can track the weather on the FOX 9 Weather app. Click here to get the app.
