“ ‘Close’ only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades.” I don’t remember much from fourth-grade recess, but I remember that. It’s true with snowstorms, too. People don’t want to hear: “Hey, it snowed 40 miles to your southeast — we were close!”
Today’s snowy downgrade is a reminder to ignore snowfall predictions more than two days before a storm hits. They are fun to look at, joke about and promptly forget, but the most accurate models (powered by the freshest, most accurate data at all levels of the atmosphere) arrive 24-36 hours before the first flakes begin to fall.
Today’s storm is tracking too far south and moving too fast for significant snow over most of Minnesota. Plowable amounts are possible for far southeastern counties, but the metro will see little or no snow — perhaps a few decorative flakes. Maybe 4 inches in Rochester. No cause for public panic.
I see more rain Friday and again Sunday, with more 40s than 50s looking out a couple weeks. A few clippers; no big, sloppy southern storms.
Nothing new there, huh?
