First Winter Storm of the Season Expected Across the Northern Plains

If you read the forecast post this morning, then you caught the reference to this in the discussion section! If not, you’re in luck. The central and northern Plains states are expecting their first winter storm of the season, and I am kinda excited about that as well.

As I mentioned this morning, the first interesting weather to affect us in quite some time is likely to move in on Friday night in association with a deep low pressure system moving across the northern Great Lakes states. This low will likely have plenty of atmospheric dynamics supporting a significant snow event on the northwestern side of the low pressure track, so that is nice for once. The National Weather Service offices across those regions have already issued Winter Storm Watches, and even a Blizzard Watch across portions of South Dakota, Minnesota and North Dakota.

As I write this, a deep trough of low pressure in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere is digging in across the western United States. This is already forcing a surface low to form on the leeward side of the Sierra Nevada in western Nevada. This low is expected to propagate east and northeastward with the best mid and upper level dynamics over the next couple days, producing heavy snowfall along the northwestern side of its track.

With cold air wrapping around on the northwestern side, and plenty of forcing at all levels of the atmosphere, this should lead to a heavy snowfall across much of the upper Midwest. In addition, winds are expected to increase substantially on the backside of this low pressure system. This is the reasoning behind the Blizzard watch for a large portion of the upper Midwest. Much of the regions outlined by Winter Storm/Blizzard Watches are anticipating 4-8″ of snowfall, but the northeastern section of Minnesota is looking at the possibility of 8-12″ of snowfall!

#WinterStorm on the way. Wide band of 6 to 12 inches of snow likely. Visit https://t.co/GN7gYAQITx for details! pic.twitter.com/vqL6rndt9w

— NWS Duluth (@NWSduluth) November 16, 2016

This could be the first significant snowfall of the season in many of these areas, so we’ll update the WxBuzz section with the latest as the winter storm unfolds.