Cold, Snow, Could Make for Difficult Holiday Travel

(KNSI) — If you’re traveling, dangerous wind chills will be the main weather story late this week, but snow is also likely.

The National Weather Service forecast office in Chanhassen says snow is likely Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Monday, the St. Cloud area will see less than an inch of accumulation, but forecasters say plowable snow over two inches is likely across central Minnesota Wednesday through Thursday morning.

Elsewhere, forecasters are also watching a potentially major winter storm from Colorado to New York starting late Thursday. Blizzard conditions are being forecast from Oklahoma to upstate New York, including Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Major transportation hubs threaten to be brought to a standstill on Thursday. On top of delays and cancellations, it will mean more traffic than normal being routed through airports like Minneapolis-St. Paul. Experts say to download your airline’s app to get up-to-the-minute information about your flight, including cancellations and delays.

Falling temps and strong winds will make for some nasty windchills Wednesday night and lasting through the holiday weekend. Around St. Cloud, windchills will vary from the teens and single digits below zero Monday and Tuesday morning to 40 below Friday morning. Wind chills around 45 to 50 below are expected in western Minnesota. Gusty winds of 30 to 40 miles an hour Thursday and Friday will also lead to blowing and drifting snow, along with possible whiteout conditions across western and southern Minnesota, where winds could gust from 40 to 50 miles an hour.

The cold will rush all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Wind chills are expected to be below zero degrees as far south as College Station, Texas, early Friday morning.

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KNSI News reporter Grant Dossetto contributed to this story.

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