textproduct: Twin Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Snow has ended across the region for today. A narrow band of 4 to 7 inches fell across southern Minnesota.

- Cool weekend followed by a gradual warmup and a couple chances for rain/snow next week.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 227 PM CST Sat Feb 28 2026

Light snow continues to fall across southern Minnesota after a period of heavy snow this morning. Several reports of 5 to 7 inches have been received from ND through southeast MN, but most are within a very narrow corridor. The heaviest corridor locally lined up from Lamberton to St. Peter and just south of Rochester. The snow still extends into North Dakota, but regional radar shows the intensity waning universally. Perhaps another inch will fall and then the snow will taper off early this evening. High pressure will build into the Upper Midwest for the rest of the weekend with temperatures remaining below normal. Clouds should keep lows from dropping off significantly tonight, but if enough breaks form late there could be some subzero temperatures across southern MN where today's snow fell.

The high will shift east to New England Monday and return flow will bring a warming trend through midweek. A low pressure system will track east across the central Plains to the mid Mississippi Valley by early Tuesday. Chances for rain or snow continue across much of the region, highest probabilities across southern MN. If snow does materialize, any accumulations would likely be light, under an inch. Another system could glance us to the southeast Tuesday night and early Wednesday, bringing the next low chance for rain and/or snow.

The pattern undergoes a more interesting transformation mid to late week as a subtropical ridge builds and parks itself across the eastern U.S. and a deep trough develops across the Rockies. Several disturbances will eject east from the trough and could spawn a couple impressive systems next weekend into early the following week. There remains a lot of spread with how such disturbances eject or whether a large upper low cuts off over the Desert Southwest. The main story is the Upper Midwest will be in the battle zone and confidence is low on any details at this range. The way a system develops and tracks will determine whether we stay cold and snowy or very warm and rainy. Temperatures in the warm sector will very likely reach the 70s. Several members of the ECMWF ensemble hint at that possibility even here with a favored storm track across southern Canada.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z MONDAY/

Issued at 532 PM CST Sat Feb 28 2026

VFR conditions throughout with light northerly wind eventually becoming east and southeast for Sunday. Mid level clouds will linger.

KMSP... VFR conditions throughout with mid level clouds. Northerly winds will eventually become east and southeast.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ MON...VFR. Wind S 10-15 kts. TUE...MVFR. Chc MVFR/-SN early. Wind VRB 5 kts. WED...VFR. Wind SE 5-10 kts.

MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

MN...None. WI...None.