Well it only took until November 19th, but it looks like we will finally string together a few days below freezing across the Upper Midwest. As for a significant winter storm, well it looks like we sit and wait.

The end of this week will be a tale of two storms, the first today and tonight along the Canadian border. This storms has all the ingredients of a clipper, but instead is just a bit of energy from a large low over central Canada. Nonetheless it will feel quite the same, being quick moving with high winds, and light snow. Right along the border and northwest Lake Superior snow belts will be most lucky with this storm seeing amounts in the 3-5” range. However, the further south you go the less snow you’ll see, with areas in the Iron Range and Duluth picking up closer to 1-3” by Friday morning.

As for the other storm on Friday, it will miss most of the ski hills across the Upper Midwest, with the highest amounts south of I-90. While areas around Cedar Rapids could see over 6” of snow, the further north you go the more it tapers off to no more than a dusting around Mankato. Once again, another big storm off the Rockies looks to miss us.

Snowfall through Saturday night, north and south. Credit: WeatherBell

Things quiet down for the weekend and next week, with high pressure dominating until about Thanksgiving Day. The only exception is Monday, when another low cutting across Canada drops some energy into northern Minnesota and the UP. However, this looks to be tracking even further north than today’s storm, so not looking too hopefully in accumulation amounts. Maybe an inch or two in the end.

Regardless, looks like temperatures should be hanging around the freezing mark a bit more continuously allowing ski areas to at least get their snow guns turned on. Fingers crossed for some more natural snow in December!

Andrew

Update: Nov 19th @ 10:30am CST: Wild Mountain has announced they will be opening tomorrow (Nov 20th) for the season.