Area Braces for Severe Weather

(KNSI) — A high wind warning has been posted for roughly the southern half of Minnesota that starts at 6:00 tonight, along with a winter weather advisory, and a first of its kind December tornado watch was issued for several counties, including the Twin Cities.

Meteorologist Nick Carletta with the National Weather Service is forecasting peak wind gusts around 58 miles an hour overnight for central Minnesota, with sustained winds in the 30 to 40 mile an hour range, with higher gusts embedded in thunderstorm cells.

“Timing seems to be most likely 7 p.m., give or take a half hour. We might get a quick burst of heavy rain and a good chance of some high winds.”

After the thunderstorms rumble east, the temperature will start to fall, and a winter weather advisory is in effect until 6:00 Thursday morning.

“After we get past midnight the temperatures are going to plummet. Temperatures will be falling down into lows tomorrow morning in the upper teens. And with those temperatures all that rain and all that snow melt will start to refreeze. High wind can do something called the flash freeze where the water can turn into ice very quickly. So if you’re going to be traveling at all tomorrow morning, make sure to take it slow assume anything looks wet is actually icy.”

The winter weather advisory is in effect from midnight tonight until 10:00 a.m. Thursday morning.

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