Paul's Latest St. Cloud Forecast

* "Plowable" snowfall is imminent, around 6" for the St. Cloud area by late Tues.
* Winter Storm Warning north/west of downtown St. Cloud
* 1-3" expected by morning, heaviest snow falls morning/midday hours
* Blizzard Warning for far west central MN, winds over 40 mph with whiteout conditions expected Tuesday, travel conditions worsen the farther north/west you drive away from St. Cloud
* Most of the new snow should be gone by late-week, sun now as high in the sky as it was in mid September


Overnight: Snow developing, 1-3" by morning. Low: 28

Tuesday: Snow, heavy early in the day, tapering during PM hours. Some blowing and drifting. Potential for 5-7" of accumulation (7-10"+ north/west of St. Cloud). Winds: Northeast 10-20. High: 32

Tuesday night: Snow tapers to flurries, little additional accumulation. Low: 25

Wednesday: Clouds, flurries linger, a cold wind. High: 34

Thursday: Peeks of sun, milder. High: 41

Friday: Sun fading behind increasing clouds. High: 44

Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of light snow/flurries (especially far southern MN). High: near 40

Sunday: Leftover clouds, flurries, chilly. High: 39
Posted by Paul Douglas at 3:49 PM 0 comments
Paul's Latest St. Cloud Weather Column
March 30

"Out Like a Polar Bear"

Forget the whole lamb/lion thing. At least in the greater St. Cloud area March is definitely going out like a polar bear, or maybe a rabid penguin. Last week's 2.7" of rain would have translated into 2-3 FEET of snow, had it been a few degrees colder. We dodged a wintry bullet last week, but no such luck tomorrow. The computer models all pretty much agree that the atmosphere over St. Cloud and most of central Minnesota will be cold enough for mostly snow. The latest WRF and NAM models print out roughly 1" of liquid precipitation. Assuming a 1:10 ratio, 1" of rain = 10" of snow (at about 30 degrees) that would mean close to 10-12" for St. Cloud! I think the final amount will be a little less, in the 6" range, as a little ice mixes in during the morning hours. But make no mistake about it: when you wake up Tuesday morning, stumble out of bed and peek behind the curtain you may get a rude awakening: snow falling at the rate of 1-2" an hour! I think the heaviest snow will fall from breakfast through midday, then slowly taper off to light snow and flurries later in the day tomorrow. The farther north/west you travel tomorrow the heavier the snow, and the stronger the winds - parts of western MN are under a Blizzard Watch, expecting 35-45 mph winds and visibility near zero at times on the backside of this intensifying storm. Enough warm air will surge north for mostly rain/ice in the immediate Twin Cities, where a puny 1-3" of slush may accumulate, especially near Maple Grove and Elk River. North of St. Cloud, near Rice, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear of some 10"+ amounts by the time the flurries wind down Wednesday.

Look at the bright side: the sun is now as high in the sky as it was back in mid September. That high sun angle means any new snow in your yard won't stick around for long, it's not like a snowstorm in January. Most of the snow should be gone by the weekend, so if you like snow, fire up the sled, wax up the skis one more time. We've had 44" of snow so far this winter season, that's below average, but tomorrow's storm should bring us above 50". The 7-Day shows highs reaching the low 40s toward the end of the week, so get ready for a slushy, sloppy, gurgly mess. A shoe-mangling thaw is likely within 72 hours.

Finally I want to thank the St. Cloud Times for signing up for my latest venture, WeatherNation. After I got the bad news from CBS last March (a year ago to the day) I had to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my career. My wife wouldn't let me even consider "retiring". I can't play golf to save my life, and there's just too much happening with America's weather, climate change, new technology. I decided to launch a new service with the idea of tailoring weather for on-line sites, like the St. Cloud Times' web site. The ability to combine streaming video weather shows (with the "big picture", some analysis, perspective and explanation) with the personalization power of the Internet, custom maps, text, and true interactivity - well, it was too much to pass up. People will still watch the 10 pm news, but now you don't have to wait up to get the very latest information. You can check in from home, from the office, from anywhere to get the latest weather details, centered on St. Cloud. This is NOT a watered-down Twin Cities forecast. The weather can be drastically different in the span of 60 miles from MSP to STC. Case in point: tomorrow. The metro area will pick up a couple inches of slush, while St. Cloud gets battered by closer to 8", definitely a "plowable snowfall", potentially crippling over far western Minnesota, where blizzard conditions are likely.

Thanks for checking out the site - we hope you'll come back often. I'm working with 6 other on-air meteorologists, and they're all terrific. I'm lucky to be surrounded by such smart, enthusiastic colleagues, who also happen to believe that the future of weather story-telling is on-line, not staring at a dumb box. A tip of the hat to the St. Cloud Times for having the faith to take the plunge. This is YOUR weather site, we want to see your photos, and soon, video clips. We really do want to make this interactive, so you can report odd or severe weather taking place in your back yard. I still love the weather - still passionate about meteorology. I'll be doing most of the PM updates Monday through Friday (and when there's a severe storm outbreak on a weekend, you can bet I'll be here!) St. Cloud is near and dear to my heart: it's the only city in Minnesota that offers a full-fledged, 4-year degree in meteorology. St. Cloud State University has one of the best weather departments in the nation, and I had the pleasure of teaching a broadcast meteorology course back in the 90s. I have a cabin in the Brainerd area, so I get up to St. Cloud fairly often, and hope to bump into many of you. Tell us what you like, what still needs tweaking. This page is a work-in-progress, but we're dedicated to using all the tools available to tell the weather story, not for the Twin Cities, but for the greater St. Cloud area. That's our mission, thanks for coming along for the ride!

Paul Douglas
WeatherNation LLC
Twitter account: pdouglasweather