Saturday, November 13, 2010

First Significant Snowfall of the Season



The first major snowfall of the season (outside of mountainous areas) is beginning to wind down across Minnesota this evening.  The picture above was taken in Woodbury, MN earlier today (via Chikage Windler at KSTP in Minneapolis).  Below is the latest image from the Minneapolis, MN area radar site:


Heavy snowfall totals of 6-12 inches are widespread across the region, as seen on the latest storm report map below (click to enlarge):


Keep in mind that the above totals took place on relatively warm ground (because it is so early in the season).  Just imagine if a storm of the same intensity would have moved through the region a month or two later when the ground was colder - we'd be talking about massive snowfall amounts for sure!

A strong area of low pressure is racing Northeast across the region, accompanied by strong, gusty winds, rapidly falling temperatures and snow.  It shouldn't take you very long to locate the center of low pressure by looking at the wind barbs on the latest surface map, below:


As the low lifts out to the North/Northeast over the next 12 hours, the heavier snow bands will shift from the arrowhead of Minnesota on into adjacent portions of Canada (although snowfall rates are likely to be less intense than earlier this afternoon across Minnesota, as the upper level energy that enhanced the snowfall has already moved out of the region).

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