Heavy Snow May End November, Kick Off December in Northern Plains, Upper Midwest, Including Minneapolis

Jon Erdman
Published: November 28,2015

Yet another round of potentially heavy snow is targeting parts of the Plains and Upper Midwest in the week ahead on the heels of a messy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
(MORE: Thanksgiving Travel Forecast)

Forecast location of the upper-level low pressure system on Tuesday in the Great Lakes. This system stalled in the Great Basin over much of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Current Alerts

Low pressure in the upper atmosphere has been stuck swirling over the Great Basin during the Thanksgiving holiday, trapped to the south of a corresponding area of high pressure aloft in an
















atmospheric logjam known to meteorologists as a "Rex block".
As a result, the weather had been rather stagnant and unchangeable, with periods of freezing rain, sleet and snow persisting in the Plains, and locally heavy rain soaking the warm side of Winter Storm Cara.
Now, that blocked-up jet stream pattern is finally giving way.
The upper-level low mentioned above will finally pivot east into the Midwest early in the week ahead. As it does so, moisture in the atmosphere will be lifted, and cold air in place will yield a swath of snow from late Sunday into Tuesday night from the High Plains to the Corn Belt, Upper Mississippi Valley and northern Great Lakes.
Winter storm watches have already been posted for portions of Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa, meaning the possibility exists for snowfall amounts greater than 6 inches within the next 48 hours. Winter weather advisories are in effect further south, across southern Nebraska and western Kansas, where somewhat lower snowfall totals are anticipated.
(MAPS: Weekly Planner)

Monday's Forecast

Tuesday's Forecast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Timing

Sunday Night

Snow spreads from the Colorado High Country into the High Plains of South Dakota, Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, northeast Colorado and northwest Kansas.
In addition, some sleet or freezing rain is possible to the east of that snow area in parts of Nebraska and Kansas.

Monday

Snow, possibly heavy, continues in parts of the northern and central Plains, including South Dakota, Nebraska, parts of Iowa, central and southern Minnesota and far northwestern Kansas.
This may lead to a challenging morning commute in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. Monday afternoon's commute may be tricky in Sioux Falls, Omaha, and, if it moves in quickly enough, Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Some blowing and drifting snow is possible in the Dakotas and Nebraska Monday night.

Tuesday

Leftover snow is possible in the northern Great Lakes and Upper Midwest, from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to northern Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
This has the potential to disrupt both the morning and afternoon commutes in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and leftover snow and wind in the morning could also pose problems in Sioux Falls.

Snowfall Forecast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Much Snow?

With some uncertainty remaining in the forecast several days out, here is the general snow total outlook through Tuesday evening:

• At least 6 inches of snow possible: parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, northern Iowa, southern and central Minnesota, central and northern Wisconsin.
• Lighter snowfall possible: Northern Minnesota, Wyoming, Colorado, northern New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma Panhandle, southern Iowa, northern Missouri, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan and southern North Dakota.

(FORECASTS: Omaha | Sioux Falls | Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Parts of southeast South Dakota, northeast Nebraska and northern Iowa just finished digging out from Winter Storm Bella, which dumped up to 18 inches of snow near Sioux Falls last weekend.
At the same time, Minneapolis/St. Paul finally picked up its first measurable snowfall of the season on Thanksgiving Day, their seventh latest "first snow" of the season on record.
Interestingly, according to the National Weather Service, the period from September 1 through November 26 was the second warmest such period on record in the Twin Cities.
MORE: Winter Storm Bella (PHOTOS)