Warm, sunny weather with temperatures in the 40s brought Minnesota a brief reprieve from winter on Sunday, but the season isn't done with Minnesota yet.
Snow has started falling in west central Minnesota and will come in two waves, with the second on Tuesday currently expected to dump more than the first.
The National Weather Service says an area extending west to east across the state that includes St. Cloud and Mora has the strongest chance of 6 inches or more of snow. The Twin Cities is a bit south of that line but still has a strong chance of that much accumulation, the Weather Service said.
"Given the long duration of the snow, expect slow travel and slippery roads both Monday and Tuesday," the agency said.
That's on the heels of a Friday storm that brought heavy winds through the Twin Cities but no significant snow, though the storm hit hard in northwestern and central parts of the state.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation shut down multiple highways in northwestern Minnesota on Friday, and the Minnesota State Patrol said that it is investigating a pile-up crash late Friday morning involving 20 to 30 cars on Highway 371 north of Brainerd.
Only non-life-threatening injuries were reported. Some of the vehicles involved weren't damaged, the patrol reported, because drivers were able to steer into the ditch before hitting other vehicles. Some of the people involved were taken to a local fire hall after the crash, according to the patrol.
The National Weather Service said Saturday morning that wind gusts in the previous 24 hours reached as high as 61 miles per hour at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
