Austin, area to see first measurable snowfall

Published 4:21 pm Saturday, November 8, 2014

Get ready for the first snowball fight of the year, clearing cars and making snow angels as the area braces for the effects from a storm half a continent away.

The National Weather Service is tracking the first big snow storm of year, which looks to pass through the Austin area Sunday night into Monday. The National Weather Service is reporting southern Minnesota could see new snow accumulation of one to three inches by Monday night.

“The amount right now is the uncertain thing,” National Weather Service representative Jeff Boyne said.

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Boyne said some weather machine models are suggesting more than an inch of snow.

“An inch may be on the conservative side,” he said.

He expects the snow to stick to the ground, unlike the flurries Austin saw in early October.

Not only will the area see snow, the temperatures are also expected to drop. Monday is expected to be near freezing. The temperatures for the rest of the week will have highs in the mid to upper 20’s, with lows in the teens. Boyne said this is unusually cold for the area, which usually sees temperatures in the upper 30s.

“We’re probably going to be at least 10 to 20 degrees below normal,” he said.

The snow and cold weather is a remnant of Super Typhoon Nuri, which slammed into Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and is sending a ripple effect from the Bering Sea across the US. The cold front should hit Austin sometime Monday. Boyne said the windchill will be very cold and looks to be in the teens during the week, with some nights possibly in the single digits.

Boyne said the cold could stay through Thanksgiving before it starts to warm up.

“It doesn’t look like anytime soon are we going to warm up,” he said.