FARGO -- It might be a holiday weekend, but hazardous wintry weather won’t take too long of a break for the new year.
The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook Saturday, Dec. 31, morning warning of a “potentially significant winter storm” heading to the region.
Weather service Meteorologist Amanda Lee said while temperatures in the area climbed into the low 20s on New Year’s Eve and shouldn’t be much colder Sunday, Jan. 1, thermometers will start to drop soon.
But first, much of the region can expect fresh snow, with some areas on track for more than 6 inches or even a foot of snow beginning late Sunday night and ramping up Monday, Jan. 2, before things clear up Tuesday, Jan. 3.
As of Saturday afternoon, a weather service map called for the heaviest accumulations in the Fosston and Bemidji areas in Minnesota, where 8 to 12 inches could fall by Tuesday. A wider swath stretching from Mayville, Grand Forks and Fargo in North Dakota to Detroit Lakes, Crookston and Park Rapids in Minnesota could get 6 to 8 inches of snow, while lesser amounts of 1 to 4 inches were forecast for northern parts of the states.
However, Lee said there was “still a lot of uncertainty” Saturday about the precise areas that would get the heaviest snowfall.
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“The idea is there, it’s just exactly where,” she said.
One thing is more certain in the week ahead: A return to “the deep freeze,” according to Lee.
Normal temperatures for Fargo this time of year run about 19 degrees for a high and 2 for a low. Starting Monday, colder air will move into the region, Lee said, with subzero highs and lows with wind chills of 25 below zero on track for Wednesday and Thursday before breaking above zero again on Friday.
It’s not unusual for some colder than normal temperatures this time of year, but Lee said it’ll be a harsh return after an “up and down” winter so far and relatively warm winters in the recent past.
“Everybody’s maybe been spoiled these last couple years, so we’re just kind of back to reality,” she said.
Lee said weather service outlooks indicate much of January could be colder than normal in the region.
