NWS: 'Anomalously strong, rare' spring storm system set for Minnesota
Minnesota remains in the bullseye for a spring/winter storm system that the National Weather Service describes as "anomalously strong," which it says is likely to be a "somewhat rare event."
The break from crappy spring weather will be brief, with a sunny Saturday followed by a gloomy Sunday that will turn into rain and snow in parts of west-central and northern Minnesota, which could see snow accumulations of 1-3 inches in parts of western and north-central Minnesota, albeit it won't stay on the ground for long.
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But it's after the weekend that the real action begins, with the NWS' forecast discussion saying that "confidence is high that we will be dealing with an anomalously strong system next week, even by spring standards."
"It doesn't matter if you are looking at geopotential heights, MSLP, temperatures, U and V wind components, mixing ratios, PW, moisture transport, all of these variables are running at or near the model climate extreme, so even for Spring, this looks to likely be a somewhat rare event."
What will this mean? The NWS reckons thunderstorms will start moving into Minnesota Tuesday into Tuesday night, with more to follow Wednesday afternoon and evening.
Oh, and it's not done either. The storm system that could send temperatures as high as 70 on Wednesday will be followed on Thursday by a cold front that brings strong winds with gusts as high as 60 mph, and sends temperatures plunging.
And while there remains uncertainty this far out over how much and where, the NWS says that this cold system will bring with it a "threat of wintry precipitation."
Oh, and it gets worse.
Worse? Yes, because these plunging temperatures will mean the seemingly never-ending winter returns, with models showing temperatures in parts of the state dropping as low as single digits.
"It will be very cold (for mid-April) behind the system," the NWS says, with models showing "a pretty strong signal for seeing highs around 20 degrees below normal to end the week."
"So after having the possibility of squeezing out a 70 on Wednesday, we may not get out of the 30s again until after next weekend."
