Rain to snow Wednesday followed by brief cold snap

Wintry weather is back on the table after about of month of mild temperatures and very little snow.

Wednesday will be a mild day under a mostly cloudy sky with high temperatures in the low-to-mid 40s with some upper 40s possible especially further south in northern Iowa.

A fairly potent clipper system will arrive later this afternoon with rain developing sometime after 3:00 PM. As temperatures cool throughout the night, the rain will mix with and eventually change to snow overnight before wrapping up early Thursday morning.

Accumulations of 1-3″ are likely for most of southeast Minnesota with a narrow band of 3-5″ possible just north of the local area and laying out just south of the Twin Cities. Amounts are trickier across northern and northeast Iowa where a second narrow intense band may set up and where the highest degree of uncertainty still exists. Some communities may only get one inch, however there is the possibility of a narrow band of 1-3″ laying out across mainly northeast Iowa. How far north or south this band may set up is still uncertain.

Temperatures will cool down the rest of the week as some polar air surges south.

High temperatures on Thursday will be near 30° with mid-to-upper 20s likely on Friday and Saturday. Night lows will be in the teens with some communities possibly falling into the single digits by Saturday morning.