Again?! More snowfall headed for northern Plains, Upper Midwest
A new snowstorm this weekend will target parts of the northern United States still recovering from a major spring blizzard that left 1 to 4 feet of snow and massive drifts during this past week, AccuWeather meteorologists say. In many cases, more snow will be on the ground for Easter than there was during Christmas or New Year's Day.
Cold air will remain entrenched over the stretch of the north-central U.S. from Montana and Idaho to Minnesota and Wisconsin in the wake of the major storm that brought many hours of blizzard conditions to North Dakota. The storm left drifts up to the roofs of some homes and closed roads from Montana to North Dakota at midweek.
The cold air that has already set daily low temperatures and late-season lows will pave the way for more snow to fall as a storm pushes inland from the Pacific, across the northern Rockies and into parts of the northern Plains of the United States and southern Canada Prairies this weekend.
Temperatures are forecast to dip into the single digits, teens and lower 20s F on Saturday morning over the northern Plains, where typical lows for this time of the year are within a few degrees of freezing.
On Saturday, locally heavy snow will spread across portions of Idaho, northern Wyoming and western Montana, which is home to the Clearwater, Teton, Big Horn, Absaroka and Bitterroot mountain ranges. In these mountainous areas, a few inches to a foot of snow may fall over the high country with up to a couple of inches of snow or a mixture of rain and snow expected in the valleys.
The storm will then reorganize and encounter even colder air as it reaches areas east of the Rockies Saturday night and Sunday.
"Since the storm will take a nearly west-to-east track after emerging from the Rockies, the stripe of heaviest snow is likely to extend along the U.S./Canada border from Saturday night to Sunday night," AccuWeather Lead Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said.
"A general 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) of snow with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 16 inches (40 cm) is forecast to pile up across northeastern Montana, northern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota to the southern tier of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada," Pydynowski said.
Winds could reach blizzard criteria with the gathering storm. Regardless of official designation or not, a substantial amount of blowing and drifting snow will occur as the storm moves through portions of eastern Montana and North Dakota and unleashes strong winds that will toss the snow around and reduce the visibility. Travel will become difficult and dangerous along portions of interstates 29 and 94; U.S. Routes 2, 52 and 85; and Canada Highway 1.
Even though a small amount of melting and settling of the snow from the blizzard will take place prior to the new storm's arrival, up to a couple of feet of snow will remain on the ground in some locations as more snow falls.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
The combination of snow from both storms will far outweigh the depth of snow that was on the ground during the holidays this past winter. A storm that was in progress in the days around Christmas brought a general 8-16 inches of snow to much of North Dakota. That snow remained on the ground into the start of 2022 as frigid air moved in.
Bismarck, North Dakota, averages 4.6 inches of snow for all of April and has already blown well past that mark with 19.4 inches as of Friday. In Minot, North Dakota, the 36 inches of snow from the recent storm dwarfs the April average of 4.5 inches. It is safe to say that these two cities and others from portions of Montana to North Dakota will have two to four times the amount of snow on the ground for Easter, compared to Christmas or New Year's Day, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
This new storm will push eastward into portions of the Great Lakes late this weekend and linger into early next week. The latest storm will bring snow to many areas in the northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan that were missed by the blizzard this past week. For these locations, up to a few inches of snow will fall Sunday night to early Monday. Duluth, Minnesota, has the potential to pick up 2-4 inches of snow during this time.
Farther to the south, Minneapolis, which received 0.1 of an inch of snow from the tail end of this week's storm, may end up with an inch or two from the new system, but most of that will fall after the Easter holiday. Both Chicago and Detroit may receive a couple of snow showers mixed with rain from the storm early next week as a potential nor'easter along the Atlantic coast robs the Midwestern storm of energy.
Chilly air will linger over much of the North Central states in the wake of the storm early next week and highs about 15-25 degrees below average are expected, forecasters say. High temperatures in the 30s will be widespread over the northern Plains and Upper Midwest with highs in the 40s forecast farther south over the central Plains and lower Great Lakes regions. Normal highs for April 18 and 19 are in the 50s to near 60 over much of the region.
Once this storm departs, AccuWeather meteorologists will turn their attention to another potential storm that could unfold next weekend over the North Central states, including some of the same areas affected by the blizzard. Depending on the storm's strength and track, impacts could range from showers, thunderstorms and flooding rain to heavy snow with high winds.
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.