Winter Storm Slowly Ends Friday Night - Quieter Weekend Ahead

Snow started to fall across southern Minnesota as we went through Friday with the winter storm impacting the region. Already as of early Friday afternoon we had one major incident south of the Cities on I-35, closing the interstate for a time.

Snow will continue to fall across the region as we head through Friday evening and the overnight hours, slowly tapering off around 2-3 AM Saturday here in the Twin Cities. The loop above shows what the radar could be looking like hourly between 6 PM Friday Night and 6 AM Saturday.

And here again are those overall expected snow totals across the state - with an band of 9-13"+ expected from portions of southwestern Minnesota to the south metro and into Wisconsin. Stay safe out there Friday Night!

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After that heavy snow across southern Minnesota Friday, Saturday will be a much quieter day with mainly sunny skies and temperatures not budging much - only climbing from the mid-20s in the morning to around 30F for a high in the Twin Cities.

A mainly sunny day is expected Saturday across the state with highs climbing into the 20s and 30s - within several degrees of average for most locations. Any snow that may be lingering in eastern Minnesota from the snowstorm will quickly move out in the morning hours.

Another quiet day is expected statewide Sunday with highs climbing into the 30s under a mix of sun and clouds. After the snowstorm to end the week, I'm sure we'll take a few nice quiet days. Maybe you'll be able to get out and play in some of that new snow!

By Wednesday we could be saying "what snowstorm?" as temperatures across much of the state climb into the 40s and 50s. This mid-December warmth could bring record highs to areas like the Twin Cities, Rochester, Brainerd, and Hibbing. Enjoy this warm-up - it looks like highs quickly tumble already for Thursday.

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Digging Out - Warming Up Into Next Week
By Paul Douglas

My late mother (Grace) admonished me not to get too worked up about the things I couldn't change. "Find a way to cope - and if possible turn a negative into a positive" she said.

If you don't like snow, cold and winter in general, consider this: the Winter Solstice is 10 days away. On Christmas Day the metro picks up an additional minute of daylight.

Snow quickly tapers today with blue sky and mellowing temperatures in the days to come. Pacific air lures the mercury above 40F Tuesday and ECMWF still (crazily) predicts 60F on Wednesday in the Twin Cities, which I seriously doubt. Even with (slushy/mushy) snow on the ground we could see 50s Wednesday before more slaps of chilly air late next week.

Looking at statistics about 7 out of 10 Christmases are "white" at MSP. I suspect this will be one of them.

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SATURDAY: Early flakes, clearing out. Wake up 22. High 30. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind W 10-15 mph.

MONDAY: Plenty of sunshine. Wake up 24. High 40. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind N 5-10 mph.

TUESDAY: Fading sun, breezy. Wake up 26. High 41. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SE 10-20 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Drizzle. Nighttime slushy mix? Wake up 38. High 53. Chance of precipitation 50%. Wind S 10-20 mph.

THURSDAY: Partly sunny, windy and cooler. Wake up 19. High 23. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind NW 15-30 mph.

FRIDAY: A little light snow. Wake up 16. High 27. Chance of precipitation 60%. Wind NW 8-13 mph.

Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
December 11th

*Length Of Day: 8 hours, 50 minutes, and 6 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: 49 seconds

*Day With Least Sunlight: December 21st (8 hours, 46 minutes, and 11 seconds)
*Latest Sunrises Before We Start Gaining Morning Light: 7:51 AM between December 30th and January 5th
*Earliest Sunsets Of The Year: 4:31 PM between December 5th and December 14th

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This Day in Weather History
December 11th

1983: Nine cars fall through the ice at the same time on Buffalo Lake in central Minnesota. There was only 5 to 6 inches of ice on the lake.

1979: The temperature drops in Roseville from 48 degrees at 2 pm to zero by dawn of the following day.

1916: Montevideo has its fifty-second consecutive day with no precipitation.

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The system responsible for heavy snow in the upper Midwest Friday will continue to move eastward Saturday, with rain/snow/ice across the Great Lakes and into New England, and strong storms from the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic into the Deep South. Out west, the next frontal boundary moves into the Pacific Northwest, bringing heavy rain and heavy mountain snow.

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Snow Drought Ends: It Was 7 Weeks Late, But Denver Finally Recorded A Measurable Snow

More from CBS Denver: "The first measurable snow of the season fell in Denver during the rush hour on Friday morning, just missing an all-time record for longest streak without snow by two days. The last time measurable snow fell at Denver International Airport was on April 21. A few places on the west and south side of metro Denver saw a light snowfall just before Thanksgiving but it never really accumulated across the heart of the city or where the official weather station is located. Up until today the airport has reported snow flurries with no accumulation three times this season."

Building out renewables in India could cost $26.5b through 2030, report says

More from Renewable Energy World: "A new study from the Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that deploying 307 GW of solar and 142 GW of wind capacity in India by 2030 would need around a $26.5 billion annual investment. That spend would be around 20% lower than what was invested across all of the country's generation resources between 2015 and 2019. The renewable capacity deployment was forecast to use about 1.25% of land that is labeled as barren or waste. Because solar resources are good across large parts of India, the solar energy buildout—and thus the land use—potentially could be spread out."

More from Politico's Morning Energy: "The U.S. will be the world's No. 1 liquefied natural gas producer by next year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Export capacity will grow to 11.4 billion cubic feet per day, bypassing current leaders Australia and Qatar. Both Cheniere and Venture Global are opening new facilities in 2022 in Louisiana, according to EIA's report. The report illustrates the meteoric growth of the U.S. LNG industry in a notably short time frame: Exports of LNG from the continental U.S. didn't begin until February 2016 under President Barack Obama, Pro's Ben Lefebvre reports. But the findings could create some political trouble for the Biden administration, which is getting heat from environmentalists for not taking an aggressive enough approach to transitioning from fossil fuels. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has pressed natural gas executives asking for details on their exports and profits, and pinned the blame for the season's higher prices on "record-setting natural gas exports." The firms had until Tuesday to respond to Warren's queries."

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Thanks for checking in and have a great day! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (@dkayserwx) and like me on Facebook (Meteorologist D.J. Kayser).

- D.J. Kayser