Early February Thunderstorms In Minnesota + Wisconsin? Storm Prediction Center Says It Could Happen

The winter of weird weather continues.

In a season where we've seen record-breaking May-like warmth, a general lack of snow, and a smattering of canceled or modified winter events and activities, you had to expect this was coming at some point.

As we end the first full week of February 2024, both Minnesota and Wisconsin are expected to see a weather event that will start off as rain with warmer temperatures, eventually shifting to colder temps and snow by Friday and into this weekend.

While we're not expecting to see a ton of snow, what happens when it is a little warmer is what I found kind of interesting.

The Storm Prediction Center, who creates hazardous weather outlooks like the ones we usually see in our part of the world for summer severe thunderstorms, put out an interesting outlook for Thursday.

That outlook included only two parts of the United States seeing a chance of thunderstorms. One part is an area in Northern Arizona. That isn't particularly surprising. The other area? The eastern 2/3 of Minnesota, all of Wisconsin, Northeastern Iowa, and the Michigan Upper Penninsula. THAT is not nearly as expected.

To be clear, this risk is for "general thunderstorms", with no major risk of severe weather. Even then, the fact that places like Florida, Alabama, or Louisiana are in the clear but the Upper Midwest is not is just kind of bizarre for early February.

I did mention that things will eventually turn to snow later in the day on Thursday and into Friday across the region. As of right now, the National Weather Service isn't thinking we'll see much snow, but this storm system will be bringing with it colder weather. Temperatures 10+ degrees cooler are expected for Friday, this weekend, and into the early part of next week.

Those cooler temperatures look like they may stay in place for a while. The longer-range outlook shows temperatures only in the 20s for late next week. I'd say BRRR!, but that's really not all that cold for February. It's just not what we've been used to so far this winter.