Snow, Arctic Air Sweep into Midwest

A shot of arctic air from Canada will set the stage for snow in the Rockies, Plains and Midwest through the weekend.

Cold Front Ushers in Arctic Air

Highs Sunday

This weekend's front will be a classic "Blue Norther'", in the lexicon of meteorology, nosediving southward through the High Plains Saturday through Monday.  

Temperatures will struggle to get out of the single digits, teens and 20s in the northern Plains and along the Front Range on Sunday. Highs in the 10s and 20s will also sweep into the Upper Midwest and northern Great Lakes by early next week. 

The cold air will eventually head into the eastern states Monday into Tuesday after a mild weekend, particularly in the South.

Weekend Snow

Midwest Radar

• Animated Radar
 
• Interactive Radar

An initial upper-level disturbance ("shortwave" in met-geek speak) will push east from the Dakotas to the Great Lakes through early Saturday, spreading a stripe of light snow from South Dakota to Minnesota, parts of Wisconsin and Lower Michigan.

This weekend, a pronounced dip in the jet stream, or trough, will dig southward into the southern Rockies.

With cold air in place, lift in the atmosphere provided by disturbances ejecting from the trough will squeeze out snow in the central and southern Rockies, northern Plains and Upper Midwest later Saturday through Sunday, including cities such asDenver, Colo., Duluth, Minn., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. and Green Bay, Wis.

48-Hour Snow Forecast

(FORECAST: Sat | Sun)

At this time, this system appears poised to produce modest snowfall totals in the Upper Midwest. Snow amounts of 3 to 5 inches are not out of the question from the Dakotas to Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Heavier totals of more than 6 inches are possible to the north ofMinneapolis/St. Paul in central/northeastern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin.

Snow from the weekend storm will likely arrive in the Twin Cities Saturday evening and continue through Sunday morning, so keep this in mind if you have travel plans.

Increasing winds could lead to blowing snow and poor visibility in parts of the Dakotas and western Minnesota late Saturday night into Sunday.