Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Woodland, MN

DISCUSSION
Issued at 304 AM CDT Sun Mar 15 2026

A swath of 5-6 inches of new snow has been observed as of around 2am this morning spanning the southern half of the greater Twin Cities metro area, with reports expected to rapidly come in with even greater amounts once people start to wake up this morning. Radar echoes are intensifying over southern Minnesota as the lower level warm nose has cooled enough such that reflectivity is rapidly increasing along a line from Redwood Falls through the southern Metro and into western WI along the leading edge of the baroclinic zone. The SPC mesoanalysis page shows intense lower level frontogenesis along this line which will continue to be the focal point for further snowfall this morning with rates easily exceeding 1-2 inch/hour at times. The surface low is currently located over central Kansas along the leading edge of the digging upper level trough and is expected to eject towards eastern Iowa as we approach sunrise and the upper level trough begins to negatively tilt. This should place the north/northwest quadrant of the system squarely over the coverage area, which should continue to result in significant snowfall rates and rapid accumulation. As the surface low slides closer later this morning, winds will increase rapidly as a tightening surface pressure gradient will couple with a mixing layer showing 50-60kts of winds at the top of the channel on forecast soundings, which may result in peak gusts approaching 50- 60mph in southern Minnesota where the gradient will be the sharpest.
While snow will still be ongoing after sunrise, the rates should drop off a bit as the increasing winds will begin to shear apart the best dendrites, resulting in lower snow ratios. With high resolution guidance continuing to produce an inch or more QPF from 1am this morning through the rest of the event, alongside 8 or 10 to 1 snow ratios we are still looking at additional accumulations generally in the double digits, especially within the peak snow band which as of right now looks to position itself over the southern Twin Cities metro through Eau Claire. Considering the snowfall forecast, what is even more astonishing is that the system will intensify further as it exits our area later this afternoon and evening, with portions of northern WI to the UP likely looking at peak snow amounts of 2-3ft farther along in this system's life span. The summary is that so far this system has performed as expected with a slight southward shift in the peak snowfall band due to a slight southerly shift in the surface low track, and is expected to continue to cause dangerous to impossible travel conditions throughout the day and into early Monday.

By sunrise tomorrow, winds are still likely to be gusting in the 30- 40mph range which will continue to blow around the fresh snowpack resulting in hazardous travel. Even with constant snow removal efforts, we expect to see a slow and difficult commute ahead so be forewarned if you decide to brave the conditions tomorrow morning.
It isn't until later in the day tomorrow when high pressure slides overhead on the heels of the system that winds will diminish and blowing snow will cease, allowing it to begin to settle. Alongside this area of high pressure will be a brief burst of arctic air allowing temperatures to drop into the single digits by Monday morning and single digits below zero by Tuesday morning. We begin to rebound temperature wise as another brief shot at a couple inches of snow looks likely Tuesday evening into early Wednesday as another upper level jet streak enters the region bringing warmer Pacific air into Wednesday. A broad low level baroclinic zone will bring a brief 6-12 hours of forcing alongside enough moisture to produce a couple inches of snow at most. We return above freezing as the snow ends with high temperatures in the 40s and possible 50s by the end of the week. NBM likely still has a warm bias from the recent past with the lack of a snowpack, so a key factor in just how warm we will get will be if we manage to stay above freezing and keep melting overnight after Wednesday, which right now looks possible given low temperatures in the low to mid 30s. The pattern for the remainder of the week is fairly benign, with the upper level jet pushing into Canada leaving us with northwesterly flow aloft but westerly flow in the lower levels, which should generally mean upstream flow coming from the relatively warmer Pacific as opposed to Gulf of Alaska.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z MONDAY/
Issued at 558 AM CDT Sun Mar 15 2026

Ongoing -SN/SN will continue to reduce visibilities down to IFR with periods of LIFR possible for mainly MKT/MSP/EAU within the first 6-8 hours of the TAF as snow continues to fall. Snow will weaken through the afternoon and evening, however winds will be increasing as they shift from 020-040 towards 330-360 and increase with speeds sustained at 20-30kts gusting to 40kts, especially in western MN. This will result in continued IFR visibility due to blowing snow even after snow ends across most locations, with these conditions lingering until winds weaken by the later part of the period. As the system pivots this morning, some LLWS will likely be observed, however it will be transient as winds are expected to being to gust as they mix down, cutting off any remaining wind shear. Overall forecast confidence is high in the continued impacts with the main uncertainty being how long BLSN lingers towards the end of the period.

KMSP...Winds are not gusting as of yet, and LLWS is likely until they start to shift towards 330-360 and gusts begin after 15z.
Otherwise expect primarily IFR impacts from snow with the heaviest band situated just south of the metro, avoiding significant periods of LIFR.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ TUE...VFR bcmg MVFR/-SN. Wind S to SE 5-10kts.
WED...VFR. Wind SW 5kts.
THU...VFR. Wind SW 5kts.



CLIMATE
Issued at 320 PM CDT Fri Mar 13 2026

To provide some historical context to the snowfall forecast for this weekend, here are the 10 largest observed single storm snowfalls in the Twin Cities recorded history (1884-present) as collected by the MN State Climatology office.

1. 28.4 inches: 1991 October 31 - November 3 (Halloween Blizzard)
2. 21.1 inches: 1985 November 29 - December 1 (Thanksgiving Weekend)
3. 20.0 inches: 1982 January 22 - 23 4. 17.4 inches: 1982 January 20 - 21 5. 17.1 inches: 2010 December 10 - 11 (Domebuster)
6. 16.8 inches: 1940 November 11 - 13 (Armistice Day)
7. 16.7 inches: 1985 March 3 - 4 (Largest March snowstorm)
7. 16.7 inches: 1940 March 10 - 14 9. 16.5 inches: 1982 December 27 - 28 10. 16.0 inches: 1917 January 20 - 21 10. 16.0 inches: 1999 March 8 - 9

For Eau Claire, the largest ever snowfall from a single event is 22.0" (all of those 22" fell on December 11th) that fell during the "Domebuster" blizzard back in December of 2010. This may be within reach with this storm

MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
MN...Blizzard Warning until 4 AM CDT Monday for Anoka-Benton-Carver- Chisago-Douglas-Hennepin-Isanti-Kanabec-Mille Lacs- Morrison-Pope-Ramsey-Sherburne-Stearns-Stevens-Swift-Todd- Washington-Wright.
Blizzard Warning until 7 AM CDT Monday for Blue Earth-Brown- Chippewa-Dakota-Faribault-Freeborn-Goodhue-Kandiyohi-Lac Qui Parle-Le Sueur-Martin-McLeod-Meeker-Nicollet-Redwood- Renville-Rice-Scott-Sibley-Steele-Waseca-Watonwan-Yellow Medicine.
WI...Blizzard Warning until 4 AM CDT Monday for Polk.
Blizzard Warning until 7 AM CDT Monday for Barron-Chippewa- Dunn-Eau Claire-Pepin-Pierce-Rusk-St. Croix.