Snow is coming, but just how much is still uncertain

Move over, spring; winter is back, at least for southern Minnesota.

A snowstorm is expected to dump up to 6 inches of snow across the Twin Cities and as much as a foot in southern and southeastern Minnesota, Andy Lahr, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, said Tuesday afternoon.

Snow is expected to begin falling in the morning and to taper off by early Thursday. Northeast winds with gusts as high as 30 miles per hour could blow it around.

By late Tuesday, some meteorologists were reporting that the storm's line had moved southward, and that the Twin Cities might get less snow than had been expected earlier.

The south and east metro areas, including Dakota and Scott counties, will get hit the hardest, with up to 6 inches of snow, Lahr said. "The north metro could get a couple of inches or less, and maybe nothing north of there," he said.

The heaviest snow will fall in a line from Albert Lea to Rochester to Eau Claire, Wis.

After a warm March and Tuesday's highs in the 50s to near 60 in the metro and southern Minnesota, the winter wallop might be a bit hard to stomach. The good news is that it's March and the snow won't last long.

Behind the storm, the sun will come out on Thursday, with highs in the upper 30s. Easter weekend looks to be seasonable, with Sunday bringing sunshine and highs in the mid-40s, Hultquist said.

Still, a spring snowstorm could create weather whiplash for trees and plants.

The unseasonably warm weather in recent weeks had some trees and plants emerging early from their hiatus — weeks earlier than normal, said Kathy Zuzek, an educator in horticulture at the University of Minnesota Extension.

"I've been traveling around the state and I'm seeing silver maples, the aspen and their relatives blooming already," Zuzek said. "The flowers are just about done on the maples. It's very early."

If snowstorm damages those flowers, those trees aren't likely to seed, she said. Tightly budded trees will be more insulated, and those that haven't leafed out should weather the storm just fine.

For those trees that began to green, a backup plan will compensate for the March storm, Zuzek said. "There are other buds that will take over, and they'll send out a whole new shoot and whole new set of leaves," she said. "You won't end up with bare plants. It will just force them to start all over."

"It's just been a weird winter," Zuzek said. "We had all that warmth in November and December. You could see lilac buds that wanted to push and expand. And we've had a very early spring."

Gardeners could throw a blanket on emerging plants to protect them, Zuzek said. "But there's not a lot you can do," she said. "So no need to freak out."

Minnesota's apple crop also should fare well through a March storm, said John Jacobson, production manager for Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake. Although the apple trees have been coming out of winter dormancy this year earlier than usual, they're not too far ahead that the cold and snow will damage them, he said.

"They're just starting to wake up, but by no means are they fully awake yet," Jacobson said. "The weather is changing to be a little more seasonable, so they'll just take a little more of a nap here and we'll be fine."

mlsmith@startribune.com • 612-673- 4788 tim.harlow@startribune.com • 612-673-7768