WeatherFanatics: End of Winter Snowstorm to Impact Montana to Minnesota

Monday, March 17, 2014

End of Winter Snowstorm to Impact Montana to Minnesota

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

March 17,2014; 6:18PM,EDT

A storm pushing inland from the Northwest will produce a swath of heavy snow from portions of Montana to the Dakotas, Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan through midweek.
Enough snow can fall to cause travel delays and disruptions to daily activities.
The storm has the potential to unload a half a foot of snow on the cities of Great Falls, Mont., Fargo, N.D., and Minneapolis.

The bulk of the snow will fall along the I-94 corridor from the northern Rockies to the Mississippi River.
The storm will pack some wind as well. Local whiteouts are possible.

In portions of Wyoming and Montana, gusts can reach between 50 and 60 mph into Monday night. Farther east, winds between 15 and 30 mph are forecast to cause blowing and drifting snow during and in the wake of the storm on Tuesday into Tuesday night.
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South of the snowstorm, winds will howl across the central and southern High Plains with the worst conditions on Tuesday.

Strong crosswinds can make for difficult travel along the I-25 corridor.
Winds gusting between 30 and 50 mph will kick up dust and raise the risk for wildfires in portions of Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, northern Arizona, northern New Mexico and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. Much of this area was experiencing moderate to extreme drought conditions.
Even though spring officially arrives on Thursday, the winter weather will not abide by the change of seasons.
While a push of chilly air follows the midweek storm, a stronger push of cold air is forecast to follow yet another storm with snow at the end of the week.