Thursday, April 10, 2008

Strong storm to affect North Dakota/Minnesota by Friday

A strong spring storm system over the southern US plains this morning will track north towards Iowa by Friday bringing a wide swath of stormy weather to our south over the next 48 hours. Fortunately for southern MB, this system will stay to our south and is not expected to affect us, but will be a factor for our neighbours in North Dakota and Minnesota. This system spawned numerous severe thunderstorms across Texas and Oklahoma Wednesday with several tornadoes reported. As this system moves north, colder air will wrap behind the system and start producing an area of heavy snow on the north and northwest flank of the storm Thursday night into Friday. Heavy snow from this system will likely affect southeast ND through northern Minnesota with 6-15" of new snow possible by Friday night. This comes on the heels of another major storm just last weekend that produced over 2 feet of snow in virtually the same area. And you thought our spring was slow to arrive! Winter storm warnings are in effect from Colorado to Minnesota due to this intensifying storm, and the National Weather Service has even issued a rare blizzard warning for the Duluth area, very unusual for April, due to the expected heavy snow and strong northeast winds off Lake Superior.

1 comment:

  1. I was just looking through the GFS, and found something that might brighten up some people's day.

    On April 18 there is a low forecast to track through Central Manitoba. This low would drag a cold front through Southern Manitoba. Warm air in the 20's would surge up from the South and CAPE values would reach up to 1000J/kg and up to 2000J/kg in the Grand Forks area. This would then fire off a line off potentially severe thunderstorms. There is some wind shear, although the tornado risk would probably be slight.

    Mid-to late April Severe Weather "Outbreak" in Manitoba, what are the odds?

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