Snowstorm to pummel Minnesota’s Arrowhead region

The weeklong reprieve from winter’s grip that brought record warmth to Minnesota is about to end decisively.

An intense storm moving across the state on Tuesday, Feb. 17, into Wednesday will wallop the North Shore with up to 2 feet of snow and dump 5 to 10 inches in cities north of a line running from Duluth to Bemidji to Grand Forks, N.D.

In the metro area and southern Minnesota, precipitation will likely be in the form of rain with a few thunderstorms possible. Central Minnesota communities could see a couple of inches of snow on the backside of the storm on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

While snow totals in far northern Minnesota look to be impressive — 12 to 24 inches in Grand Marais, Two Harbors and Silver Bay — it’s the moisture embedded in the snow that will make it especially heavy, the Weather Service said. High winds will lead to whiteout conditions along the North Shore and near-whiteout conditions in other areas, with storm warnings in effect from 6 p.m. Tuesday until Thursday morning.

The warning area stretches from Duluth north to the Canadian border and west into central North Dakota. Cities included are Bemidji, Thief River Falls, Roseau, Hibbing, Ely and International Falls. A blizzard warning will be in effect from 9 p.m. Tuesday through noon Thursday in the portions of Lake and Cook counties adjacent to Lake Superior.

“Do not travel unless you must due to emergencies,” the Weather Service warned. “If you must go out, especially along Hwy. 61 on the North Shore, have a winter emergency kit.”

Snow could fall at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour, the Weather Service said, and may lead to snow-loaded tree branches snapping and causing power failures.

By Wednesday, as the storm moves into Canada, northerly winds could bring 1 to 3 inches of snow to central Minnesota and as far south as the Twin Cities, the Weather Service said.

The abrupt change in conditions comes after the Twin Cities saw highs of 50 degrees or higher from Feb. 13-16, which tied or set records on Feb. 13 and 14, according to the Minnesota Climatology Office and the Weather Channel.

In Duluth, new high temperature records were set Feb. 13 and 15 at 46 degrees and Feb. 14 at 47 degrees. On Feb. 15, Hibbing at 48 degrees set a new record and International Falls at 46 degrees tied a record that has stood since 1981, according to the Weather Service’s office in Duluth.

A more seasonable weekend is in store, with highs dropping into the 20s in southern Minnesota and low 20s in northern Minnesota, but milder air is poised to return next week, the Climate Prediction Center said.

The Twin Cities picked up 7.8 inches of snow in November and 16.8 inches in December. Since then, the metro has only seen 6.6 inches of snow, with most of that in January. Precipitation next week looks to be of the mixed variety, the Weather Service said.