If you thought we’d squeeze by with just those 7 cold days leading up to Christmas this winter, you’re mistaken. While the typically frigid air has been galivanting around in Siberia for the past month, it’s had its fill there and wants to visit Minnesota again.
Some perspective is necessary however. We are 61% of the way through meteorological winter and it’s running +1.2° F above normal. That’s because, while December was legit cold at -4° F below normal, January has more than made up for it. We’re running +7.6° F above normal but that number will surely come down with this last minute arctic blast to end the month.
While Thursday morning felt cold, and indeed it was the coldest morning we’ve had in two and a half weeks, it pathetically was just below normal. The low of 4° F is our first morning in the single digits since January 9th. What’s crazy about that is that the NORMAL low temperature should be about 8° F the past two weeks! That’s how mild it’s been. To be sure, we saw a lot of subzeros in northern Minnesota for the first time since earlier this month:
Before the real cold arrives, as it often does, it will be prefaced by a bout of snowfall. This is the second clipper of the week. Yesterday’s snow amounted to a measly 0.7 inches at MSP airport. This one likely will produce a bit more since it’s more vigorous ahead of the arctic blast. Snow showers will reach northwest Minnesota by early evening Thursday and quickly expand to the entire state by midnight. Luckily, most of the snow will wrap up early Friday morning (probably between 6-8 a.m.).
(above: forecast precipitation 3 p.m. Thursday through 9 a.m. Friday)
We can expect a likely 1 to 2 inches of fresh, fluffy snow. The European model seems to have a good handle on the snow and all the models generally agree on anywhere from about a half inch on the low end to as much as two inches on the high end for the Twin Cities area.
Northern Minnesota stands to see perhaps some slightly higher amounts at 2 to 3 inches and hints that there could be isolated pockets of 4 inch amounts.
The winds will roar much of Thursday night; first from the south, then switching from the northwest as the arctic front passes.
(Above: forecast wind gusts from midnight through 12 p.m. Friday)
That fresh 1 or 2 inches of snow will be whipping around with those winds much of Friday, especially in western Minnesota where maximum wind gusts could reach a whopping 50 mph!
Our high temperature Friday will occur early in the morning, near 30° F before falling through the day into the teens by evening. Temperatures in northern Minnesota will already be cold, in the single digits all day Friday.
While the Twin Cities may just barely stay above zero Friday night, most areas of Minnesota will be well below zero:
Saturday night will see our overnight low drop below zero for the first time in the Twin Cities since Christmas morning.
Wind chills early Sunday will of course be even more brutal ranging from -20° F south to as cold as -40° F in northern Minnesota:
The peak of our latest cold snap looks to be Tuesday morning when temperatures could reach the teens below zero, even in the Twin Cities. IF that occurs, it would be the coldest morning this winter so far. We reached -12° F on the morning of December 23.
This cold looks to stick around for about a whole week. We should see near normal temperatures, in the 20s again, by next weekend:
The plunge of polar air will also push the main storm tracks to our south creating a belt of snow mainly across the central U.S. into the northeast for the next seven days:
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