Again?! More snowfall piling up in northern Plains, Upper Midwest

A new snowstorm this week is targeting parts of the northern United States still recovering from a major spring blizzard that left 1 to 4 feet of snow and massive drifts last week, AccuWeather meteorologists say.

Cold air will remain entrenched over the stretch of the north-central U.S. from Montana and Idaho to Minnesota and Wisconsin in the wake of the major storm that brought many hours of blizzard conditions to North Dakota. The storm left drifts up to the roofs of some homes and closed roads from Montana to North Dakota at midweek.

To start off the weekend, temperatures dipped down into the single digits, teens and lower 20s F over the northern Plains, where typical lows for this time of the year are within a few degrees of freezing.

The next storm organized and encountered cold air as it reached areas east of the Rockies Sunday.

Several areas in North Dakota reported a foot of snow on Sunday, including Burlington, North Dakota, which recorded 12 inches of snow on Sunday afternoon.

"A general 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) of snow with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 16 inches (40 cm) is forecast to pile up across northeastern Montana, northern North Dakota and the southern tier of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada," Pydynowski said. Northeastern Minnesota could also have 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) of snow, particularly along the lakeshore.

Winds could reach blizzard criteria with the gathering storm. Regardless of official designation or not, a substantial amount of blowing and drifting snow will occur as the storm moves through portions of eastern Montana and North Dakota and unleashes strong winds that will toss the snow around and reduce the visibility. Travel will become difficult and dangerous along portions of interstates 29 and 94; U.S. Routes 2, 52 and 85; and Canada Highway 1.

Even though a small amount of melting and settling of the snow from the blizzard will take place prior to the new storm's arrival, up to a couple of feet of snow will remain on the ground in some locations as more snow falls.

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The combination of snow from both storms will far outweigh the depth of snow that was on the ground during the holidays this past winter. A storm that was in progress in the days around Christmas brought a general 8-16 inches of snow to much of North Dakota. That snow remained on the ground into the start of 2022 as frigid air moved in.

Bismarck, North Dakota, averages 4.6 inches of snow for all of April and has already blown well past that mark with 19.4 inches as of Saturday. In Minot, North Dakota, the 36 inches of snow from the recent storm dwarfs the April average of 4.5 inches.

This new storm will push eastward into portions of the Great Lakes early this week. The latest storm will bring snow to many in the northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan that were missed by the blizzard last week. For these locations, up to a few inches of snow will fall early Monday. Duluth, Minnesota, has the potential to pick up 2-4 inches of snow during this time.

Farther to the south, Minneapolis, which received 0.1 of an inch of snow from the tail end of last week's storm, may end up with a coating to an inch from the new system, but most of that will fall after the Easter holiday. Both Chicago and Detroit may receive a couple of snow showers mixed with rain from the storm early this week as a potential nor'easter along the Atlantic coast robs the Midwestern storm of energy.

Chilly air will linger over much of the North Central states in the wake of the storm early this week and highs about 15-25 degrees below average are expected, forecasters say. High temperatures in the 30s will be widespread over the northern Plains and Upper Midwest with highs in the 40s forecast farther south over the central Plains and lower Great Lakes regions. Normal highs for April 18 and 19 are in the 50s to near 60 over much of the region.

Once this storm departs, AccuWeather meteorologists will turn their attention to another potential storm that could unfold next weekend over the North Central states, including some of the same areas affected by the blizzard. Depending on the storm's strength and track, impacts could range from showers, thunderstorms and flooding rain to heavy snow with high winds.

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