Winter storm warning begins on Monday, continues

Tuesday; Heavy snow and ice for some areas

A juicy winter storm will deliver snow, rain and freezing rain to the upper Midwest Monday into Tuesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern from Monday morning into Tuesday evening:

The heaviest snow will be Monday afternoon and evening through Tuesday. South-central and southeastern Minnesota, plus portions of western Wisconsin, may see several hours of freezing rain before the changeover to a wintry mix and then all snow.

Some computer models are showing about one inch of precipitation in many areas Monday through Tuesday night. That would include rainfall plus the water content of the snow. That would be more than our average precipitation total for the entire month of January.

Potential snow totals

The heaviest snow totals are expected to be in southwestern Minnesota, where many areas will receive double-digit totals over the two days. Snow totals of 6 inches or more are expected into central Minnesota, the northern part of the metro area, plus northwestern Wisconsin: