Welcome to the meteorological start to spring!  Can you feel it yet?  Well, maybe not so much this week.  I had to borrow Paul Douglas' name for the last weather maker for this week's blog title.  Wet slop was the best way to describe what remained on surfaces in and around Shakopee Wednesday morning.  Rain fell most of the Tuesday before switching over to snow by about 4:30 a.m Wednesday.  With freezing rain pelting my bedroom windows overnight, I didn't get much sleep, so I listened for when it stopped which would signal the changeover to all snow.  By 8 a.m. Wednesday, snow in Shakopee totalled 1.5 inches with 1.35 inches of total water accumulated.  With temperatures hovering around freezing, it made some surfaces slippery.  Slick roads and unplowed streets did not cause Shakopee schools to delay or cancel school.  Snow totals drastically increased from the southern Twin Cities metro to the northwest side.  From one inch of snow in Jordan to 8.5 inches of Andover in Anoka County.  Here is a map showing snow totals across the Twin Cities:





Unusual to see pure rain in February this far north.  One interesting tidbit of information is that this was the most liquid we've seen in the area since 1.42 inches of rain fell on August 16, 2011.  One advantage of this precipitation is that it assists in the drought situation.  Any rain or snow makes a difference.

With the snow cutoff right over the metro, along with weather models jumping around the storm track constantly, this was a difficult storm to forecast where and how much snow we would end up receiving.  Overnight models into Wednesday shifted the low pressure center south, more cold air was drawn into the northern part of system to allow rain to change to snow much sooner than earlier anticipated.  We just can't seem to buy a storm around home as storms skip or barely brush the area.  Maybe that is due in part to a loyal reader of The WeatherDesk thinking spring, and somehow the message is being communicated to Mother Nature? :)

If you don't like this week's weather, you'll sure enjoy next week.  More snow chances come into play Friday and Saturday, before the weather pattern quiets and temperatures climb into the 40s and possibly 50 degrees by next Tuesday.  Early indications are that snow totals will be light heading into the weekend, but I'll be keeping an eye on this as I'm sure the models will be shifting around a bit before locking in on a solution.