No big decisions
Dave Moore, legendary WCCO anchor, used to say, "Make no big life decisions in Minnesota in March."
His wisdom is evident, and could also be applied to the last two weeks of January.
Welcome to the coldest week of the year on average in Minnesota. In the metro, our average high this week is 21 and our average low 3. The good news is our averages start creeping up next week. The bad news, those numbers will look pretty good for most of the next two weeks.
After a brief moderation Tuesday, another arctic front sails through late Wednesday. Temperatures in central Canada have been near -30, and that air is headed our way. I expect northern Minnesota to see lows from -20 to -35, with some spots like Embarrass and Tower touching -40 over the next two weeks.
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It will be interesting to see if Lake Superior freezes over in the next two to three weeks. It is completely ice covered once every 20 years or so. The last big freeze was March 6, 2003 when the lake was 90 percent frozen over. In 1996 it was 96 percent, and in 1994, it was 95 percent frozen.
The last time Superior was 100 percent frozen over was 1979.
This will probably be the coldest stretch of the winter. The good news is it may be over in about two weeks, and spring begins in just over two months. Hang in there!
PH