textproduct: Duluth

KEY MESSAGES

- The winter storm will diminish gradually for most, but blizzard conditions continue tonight along the North Shore.

- Another system may bring light snow to parts of northwest Wisconsin and the Arrowhead Thursday night into Friday, possibly lingering into Saturday. - A cool and active weather pattern looks to remain in place into next week with some snow chances possible.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 319 PM CST Wed Feb 18 2026

Low pressure is currently centered around east-central Minnesota with snow and some light mixed precipitation rotating around it. For most of the region, the snow or mix has become light in intensity. The one exception is up the North Shore, where the strongest lift and moisture transport are keeping a steady stream of heavier snow ongoing. Snowfall rates have been up to around 3 inches today, with reports of over two feet of snow. The surface low will continue moving slowly east and eventually north going into Thursday. This axis of heavy snow may move north a little bit this evening, but with the low essentially taking a track over the snow-buried areas, the hardest-hit areas are likely to continue to see persistent light, but accumulating snow persist the next day and a half or so. It is likely that the hardest hit locations in the high terrain will top 30 inches by Thursday.

With this update, some headline changes were made, which essentially trim up the warned areas and confine them to the Arrowhead while most other places are now under a Winter Weather Advisory. Expect some light snow and perhaps some freezing drizzle for a lot of places with this wraparound snow into this evening. In general, accumulations up to an inch can be expected except higher amounts around the periphery of Lake Superior.

As far as the strong winds go, low pressure taking that northeast and eventually northerly track will gradually suppress wind speeds as we go into this evening. Blizzard conditions along the North Shore should very slowly decrease tonight, but we will see gusts up to 50 mph yet early this evening.

There is another storm that might just clip our region Thursday night into Friday and into this weekend. Another Colorado-style low is looking to track northeast somewhere through Wisconsin into Friday. Model trends have favored a more southeasterly track, but wherever it goes, the northwestern quadrant of this storm is looking to feature a very potent mesoscale heavy snow band that will probably drop heavy snow over a relatively narrow swath of land (say about 50-60 miles in width or so). Where exactly this low tracks will be crucial in where this snow actually falls. Right now, though, it's looking like parts of Price and perhaps Iron county may be grazed by it and see a few inches of snow. In addition, as this low moves northeast into the UP, it is looking like an inverted trough with some persistent frontogenesis may set up to the northwest of the low Friday and perhaps lingering into Saturday. This may bring snow chances into the Arrowhead, perhaps accumulating to a few inches of snow on top of what's already fallen there from the current system.

The general flow pattern Saturday and Sunday is looking to become northwesterly. There may be a little bit of lingering light lake-effect snow for the South Shore, but otherwise generally cool and quiet weather. Some broader ridging to our west early next week may set us into more of an active clipper pattern. We may see some snow chances next week with some models suggesting a clipper system passing through around mid-week.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1146 AM CST Wed Feb 18 2026

Across northeast Minnesota, widespread IFR to LIFR conditions in snow, freezing drizzle, stratus and fog will continue through tonight. East to northeast wind gusts of 35 to 50kts will continue near Lake Superior into the evening.

Across northwest Wisconsin, widespread IFR conditions in stratus, fog, and a rain/snow/freezing drizzle mix this afternoon. Precipitation will become mostly snow this evening and into tonight.

MARINE /FOR NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR/

Issued at 319 PM CST Wed Feb 18 2026

A few storm force gusts may persist for a couple hours, but winds are expected to decrease to gales this evening and eventually to gusts below 30 kt by midday Thursday as a low pressure system passes through. Expect conditions to be hazardous for small craft through most of Thursday, then winds lighten up a bit with gusts below 20 kt for all except Grand Marais to Grand Portage Thursday night. Snow can be expected tonight into Thursday, and some more snow is possible Friday into Saturday at times. The northeast winds turn northwesterly Friday and some breezy conditions with gusts to around or just over 20 kt possible.

For the open water discussion, refer to the NWS Marquette Area Forecast Discussion at weather.gov/mqt.

DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

MN...Blizzard Warning until noon CST Thursday for MNZ020-021. Winter Weather Advisory until midnight CST tonight for MNZ010- 011-018-019-025-026-035. Winter Storm Warning until noon CST Thursday for MNZ012. Winter Weather Advisory until noon CST Thursday for MNZ037. WI...Winter Weather Advisory until noon CST Thursday for WIZ001>004. MARINE...Storm Warning until 6 PM CST this evening for LSZ140>144. Gale Warning from 6 PM this evening to 4 AM CST Thursday for LSZ140>143. Blizzard Warning until noon CST Thursday for LSZ142. Gale Warning from 6 PM to 10 PM CST this evening for LSZ144. Gale Warning until 10 PM CST this evening for LSZ145-146-148- 150.