Another weekend, another snowstorm with 2-6 inches possible

And here we go again.

As has become routine, Crow Wing and Cass counties are part of a winter weather advisory from late morning Thursday, March 16, to late Friday night, March 17, with 2-6 inches of snow possible.

Snow is expected to be heavier from west to east.

A wintry mix early Thursday morning is expected to transition to all snow through Thursday afternoon, with possible heavy snowfall rates Thursday eventing into Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Duluth.

Wet and heavy snow is possible after the transition to snow.

Contributed / National Weather Service, Duluth

The east central and northeastern parts of the state are under a winter storm warning.

Cass and Crow Wing counties are on the western edge of the weather advisory.

The most impactful period of snow in this area will be from noon Thursday to noon Friday.

Strong winds are also forecast, which will cause areas of blowing and drifting snow.

• Thursday, March 16: A chance of drizzle, snow and freezing drizzle before 9 a.m., then snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Patchy blowing snow after 1 p.m. Temperature falling to around 24 by 10 a.m. Blustery, with a north wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches is possible.
• Thursday night: A 30% chance of snow, mainly before 11 p.m. Patchy blowing snow before 2 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 9. Blustery, with a northwest wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.
• Friday, March 17: A 20% chance of snow after 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 19. Blustery, with a northwest wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
• Friday night: A 20% chance of snow after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 9. Blustery, with a north wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
• Saturday, March 18: Partly sunny, with a high near 23. Blustery, with a north wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
• Saturday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 2. Blustery, with a west wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

The National Weather Service is recruiting additional volunteer precipitation observers across northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, including from the Brainerd lakes area.

The weather service wants to find volunteers to report precipitation, snowfall and snow depth/snowpack liquid water equivalent.

Ideally, they seek those who can submit daily reports of rain, snow and snowpack depth, but even those who can volunteer to send occasional reports of the snow pack depth are welcome to sign up.

All that is needed is 5 minutes a day for an observation, and the standardized rain gauge, which costs about $35.

The weather service seeks volunteers to get more observations to better predict flooding, verify snowfall and precipitation forecasts, and fill in its observational data set to have a better understanding of what exactly happened when winter or summer weather hits.

“We need good ‘ground truth’ observations of precipitation, snowfall and snowpack to make better forecasts,” a news release said. “While there are already volunteer observers in the area, more observations are always needed, especially in rural areas where we don’t currently have any observers.

“Without many ground truth observations, forecasts and outlooks are based primarily on simulated precipitation and snow, which is interpolated from observations far away, may not accurately represent regional conditions, and rarely capture local maximums,” the news release said.

Those who are interested in becoming a volunteer observer should do so through the

Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, or CoCoRaHS.

• Sign up: https://cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=application
• Obtain the official CoCoRaHS rain gauge: https://cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=store/
• Questions? Email ketzel.levens@noaa.gov