Area to be walloped by ice and snow

Jan. 2—Hoar frost lacing the area landscape Monday morning camouflaged the unsettling weather forecast for around the corner.

For several days the National Weather Service warned of a storm that is to hit Minnesota. The specifics for south-central Minnesota grew more challenging in every update. By Monday afternoon the NWS predicted that a wintry mix of rain, sleet and ice will develop across southern Minnesota on Monday night with some locations possibly seeing over a quarter of an inch of ice.

Heavy snow was predicted to move into southwest Minnesota on Monday.

The winter storm will impact travel, the NWS warned, with the worst conditions to be on Tuesday.

Joe Grabianowski, operations superintendent at Mankato Public Works, said the city is prepared to tackle it.

"We have all of our equipment ready, and we have salt ordered and coming in," he said.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation posted this message on its social media: "We're watching this storm closely and our plow crews will be out working."

NWS meteorologist Melissa Dye said that the main round of precipitation is to occur overnight on Monday into Tuesday morning.

"Something that we're trying to stress with our messaging is that when people wake up tomorrow, there might not be much to look at on the ground yet. But certainly there will be by Tuesday afternoon," she said.

The NWS is expecting snowfall rates of up to an inch per hour across southern Minnesota, which could be higher at times depending on where the heaviest bands set up.

"The other complicating factor for southern Minnesota is that because surface temperatures are going to be very close to freezing, we're looking at a decent shot of some freezing rain and mixed precipitation," Dye said. "So we're also looking at some ice accumulation."

The highest amounts will be across far southern Minnesota around the I-90 corridor, potentially seeing up to a quarter of an inch of ice accumulation.

Farther north toward Mankato is looking at anywhere from a tenth to two-tenths of an inch in ice accumulation.

"Things should gradually transition to all snow by Tuesday afternoon," Dye said. "As far as snowfall totals for the region, we're looking at anywhere from 3 to 6 inches, but it's going to be highly dependent on where the changeover happens with the freezing rain versus the snow. So we'll have pretty varied snowfall totals across southern and south-central Minnesota."

The NWS is also now looking at the potential for more snow Wednesday.

"We could see an additional 2 to 4, possibly 5 inches of additional snowfall for Wednesday," Dye said.

For Blue Earth and Waseca counties, the NWS had issued an ice storm warning in effect from 9 p.m. Monday to midnight Tuesday. Significant icing is expected with total snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches in southeast Minnesota and 6 to 12 inches in southwest Minnesota, with ice accumulations of one to two tenths of an inch in portions of south central Minnesota.

For Sibley, Brown, Nicollet and Watonwan counties, the NWS issued a winter storm warning in effect from 8 p.m. Monday to 6 p.m. Wednesday. Heavy mixed precipitation is expected with total snow accumulations 10 to 17 inches, and ice accumulations of around one tenth of an inch in portions of central, south-central, southwest and west-central Minnesota.

For Le Sueur and Faribault counties, the NWS issued a winter storm warning in effect from 2 a.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Wednesday. Heavy mixed precipitation is expected with total snow accumulations of 7 to 10 inches, and ice accumulations of around one-tenth of an inch in portions of central, east-central and south-central Minnesota.

Patchy blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. Ice will cause slippery road conditions, and heavy icing may result in downed tree branches and power lines.

The NWS strongly discourages travel and suggests keeping an extra flashlight, food and water in the vehicle in case of an emergency.

"Make sure you've got a winter safety kit in your car. Extra warm clothes, cellphone chargers, things like that," Dye said. "If you don't have to travel, I would not advise it because we are looking at that ice accumulation, especially across southern Minnesota."

Grabianowski offered some tips as well.

"Leave plenty early. Give yourself enough time and drive slowly," he said. "Give us some room when we're out there plowing, too."

The latest road conditions can be obtained by calling 511. Road conditions can also be found at 511mn.org for Minnesota.

"The other concern with this is going to be the potential for some power outages," Dye said.

For information on outages in the area, visit outagemap-xcelenergy.com/outagemap.