Double Whammy: Two Northern Plains Snow Events
Today is not the only day of this week that the northern Plains will have to deal with a snowstorm; another looms for Monday night into Tuesday.
The first snowstorm will continue to spread from the northern Plains to the upper Great Lakes through tonight.
As Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski pointed out, "The northern Plains of the U.S. and the southern Prairies of Canada have not seen a great number of storms overall this winter, with many taking the trip toward Denver."
The snow began falling across the northern Plains Saturday evening, around the same time a deadly avalanche was triggered in northwestern Montana.
The snow will now spend the rest of today into tonight creating travel headaches from central North Dakota to places in and around Lake Superior.
The heaviest snow will amount up to 6 inches, burying the cities of Fargo, N.D., International Falls, Minn., and Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Travel will be tricky across Interstates 29, 94, 35 and 75. Watch for detours or delays around potential car accidents.
Not only will the snow make for hazardous travel, but significant wind gusts will create areas of blowing and drifting snow.
Visibility can be reduced to below a quarter of a mile at times in the heaviest snow as winds gust to between 30 and 40 mph during the heart of the storm.
Next Storm Monday Night into Tuesday
As mentioned above, today's storm won't be the only one to affect the northern Plains this week.
Another low pressure system will track through the Four Corners region on Monday before ejecting into the Plains on Monday night.
This low pressure center will end up farther south than the one ending this weekend, therefore sparing communities and cities near the Canadian border and southern Canada from additional heavy snow.
This storm will produce heavy snow across the Wasatch Range in Utah and the Colorado Rockies on Monday night with local amounts of a foot or more possible.
Steady snow will then develop on the northern side of this storm from Wyoming through South Dakota and Minnesota late on Monday night into Tuesday.
A zone of heavy, wind-driven snow will affect cities from Pierre and Aberdeen, S.D., to St. Cloud, Minn. Snowfall totals could top a foot within this zone.
The snowstorm will continue to rage into Tuesday night before sliding eastward and impacting the upper Great Lakes and Northeast on Wednesday.
AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski contributed to the content of this story.
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Daily U.S. Extremes
past 24 hours
| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | 100° | Smyrna, TN |
| Low | 15° | Sunset Crater, AZ |
| Precip | 3.99" | Wadena, MN |
WeatherWhys®
Hail is much more common during the months of May and June compared to July and August. The main reason is the fact that the freezing level is usually higher during July and August as pockets of cold air in the upper atmosphere are less common as the jet stream weakens and retreats farther north.
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