A day after we practiced ourTornado Warning preparedness we are experiencing a variety of winter weather watches and warnings.

The National Weather Service says a
significant winter storm will develop this afternoon and
continue through Saturday night. All precipitation types, strong
winds, and blizzard conditions will occur in this winter storm. A
Blizzard Warning is in effect tonight through Saturday evening
for west central and south central Minnesota. A Winter Storm
Warning is in effect for most of east central and a portion of
south central Minnesota and all of west central Wisconsin. St
Cloud, the Twin Cities, Mankato and Albert Lea are included in the
warning. As well as Rice Lake, Ladysmith and Eau Claire Wisconsin.
A Winter Storm Watch remains in effect for areas north of the
warning areas.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue this morning,
and persist for much of the day as temperatures remain in the mid
30s in central Minnesota to the lower 40s along the
Minnesota/Iowa border. Colder air will begin to move into central
Minnesota this afternoon and evening, changing the precipitation
to snow. In addition to the heavy snow, strong gusty winds of 40
to 50 mph will bring blizzard conditions to west central
Minnesota. The best chance for whiteouts will be late Friday night
across west central Minnesota. The rain will turn to a wintry mix
of freezing rain, sleet, and snow across south central and east
central Minnesota, and west central Wisconsin Friday evening,
before changing to all snow by Saturday morning.

Total snow accumulations of 8 to 15 inches are expected from west
central and southwest Minnesota to east central Minnesota and
northern Wisconsin, with totals nearing 18 inches possible across
southwest Minnesota. Totals will taper off to 4 to 8 inches
across south central Minnesota. There may be a sharp gradient in
the watch area north of Alexandria and Little Falls. In addition,
total ice accumulations of one to two tenths of an inch are
possible across the southern third of Minnesota into west central
Wisconsin.

Blizzard Warning area is Orange, Winter Storm Warning Pink and Winter storm watch blue.

National Weather Service
National Weather Service
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