Although winter doesn’t officially start until Tuesday, Mother Nature was expected to dump another 3 to 5 inches of snow over south central Minnesota today.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for Freeborn County beginning around 6 a.m. today. It was to last until midnight.

Snow was expected to develop rapidly this morning across much of the southern and south central regions of the state, moving eastward into Wisconsin in the afternoon. The heaviest snowfall in the Freeborn County area was expected to fall between late morning and early afternoon.

Albert Lea has received just about 20 inches of snow this month, according to KIMT meteorologists. Sidewalks already look like small canyons, something that normally doesn’t happen until February or so. Today’s snow should bring out the snow blowers and shovels once again.

It’s surely going to be a white Christmas in Minnesota.

Spotty areas of freezing drizzle were occurring this morning ahead of the snow over parts of eastern Minnesota and into the Twin Cities area.

The high temperature was predicted at 28 degrees with wind chills spanning -4 degrees to 6 degrees.

For this evening, there’s a 60 percent chance of another 1 to 2 inches of new snow accumulation before this front moves out.

Drivers should take precaution during the snowfall, because while most major roads have been treated, several are listed in fair condition by the Minnesota Department of Transportation due to icy patches remaining from last week’s storms. Interstate 90 from Albert Lea west to Sherburne and east into Wisconsin were listed in fair condition this morning, along with Interstate 35 from the Iowa border north. U.S. Highway 69 north from the Iowa border was also listed in fair condition, while U.S. 65 north was listed in good driving condition.

All that could change by the time this newspaper gets into readers’ hands.

Also included in the winter weather advisory were Blue Earth, Waseca, Steele and Faribault counties.

Worth, Winnebago and Cerro Gordo counties in northern Iowa are also in a winter weather advisory, spanning from 6 a.m. today until noon Tuesday.

On Tuesday in the Albert Lea area, there’s a 20 percent chance of snow before noon with mostly cloudy skies and a high near 23 degrees.