A BUCKET FULL OF WINTER...

Another snowstorm has come and gone and it was a beauty for parts of the upper Midwest. Much of Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, and extreme northern Iowa picked up 6 to 12". Not bad for April.

Here are some specific reports.

Another view of Wisconsin. Most of the state seeing 2-12".

Here's the snow depths reported Wednesday morning.

The snow also has a healthy water content in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Water equivalents are in the 2 to 6" range over a vast area. With more snow on the way in coming days, flooding on the Mississippi could become a concern later in April. Especially if heavy rains accompany the eventual thaw.

Snow also equates to cold and this morning was exceptionally chilly around the Midwest. Rochester, Minnesota plunged to 6 Wednesday morning. That's the second coldest temperature ever for so late in the season. The all-time April record is 5 set in 1982. The high only reached 23 in the afternoon making it the coldest high temperature for the date. The previous mark was 25. Here's some of Wednesday's lows.

Orange City, Iowa in the northwest corner dipped to 1 below. Here's some of the lows around Iowa.

Wind chills early Wednesday were as cold as 12 below in the same area.

Some low temperature reports from my local area. Man this is cold! Reminiscent of 1982.

The next big ticket item for my area and the central Midwest is a snow system due to arrive Sunday. Precipitable water values will be on the increase with increasing southerly winds Saturday. Here's the PWAT's on the NAM pushing 1" in NE Kansas.

The warm moist air will over-run the existing cold air setting up a warm-advection snow. The GFS shows a large band of snow by Sunday evening extending from SE South Dakota through my area all the way to southern Indiana.

While it's too early to put numbers out on potential snowfall, several inches of accumulation are possible. We'll be able to start dialing in on that Thursday as the data fields improve out west. Early guidance shows this.

The GFS.

The EURO

By the way, scattered snow showers are possible in some areas Thursday but accumulations (if they occur appear minimal. Most models show nothing more than a dusting worst case. Roll weather...TS