Sub-zero smack next week, 5th latest on record?

Properly Winter

New year, different weather.

We awaken to a January that feels more like winter across Minnesota. Snow cover. Frosty trees. Nippy noses. Backyard pond hockey. It's enough to restore your faith in all things winter at 45 degrees latitude north.

The week starts quiet, and ends with a few snowy spasms. Wednesday brings a light snow shot. Friday's system looks light right now, but may have to be watched.

Next week's inbound arctic smack will remind you that we live in the great frozen north. The season's coldest air mass arrives Sunday on increasing bitter northwest winds. A few sub-zero mornings are likely next week, and temperatures may not climb above zero for a day or two next week.

A few days of sub-zero air sandwiched in a milder than average El Nino winter?

This week looks great to get out and play in what snow we have around Minnesota. The best place to fire up the sled or snowshoes? The ridge above the North Shore up into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, where more than a foot of snow graces the landscape.

Here's the week at a glance, and a preview of next week's sub-zero Arctic outbreak.

5th latest sub-zero on record at MSP?

If we make it through Sunday without dipping below zero, this looks like the fifth latest sub-zero reading on record for the Twin Cities. And yes, temperatures have always dipped below zero each winter in the Twin Cities at least twice. Here's more on our tardy sub-zero weather this winter from the Minnesota Climatology Working Group.

So far at the Twin Cities there has not been a minimum temperature of zero or colder for the winter of 2015-16. How rare is it to go so late in the season without a minimum of zero or colder?

In 143 years of record keeping in the Twin Cities, the official temperature has always fallen below zero sometime during the winter. There has never been a Twin Cities winter where the temperature has not dipped to zero or colder at least twice.

The long term average for the first below-zero reading in the Twin Cities is December 8. The earliest below-zero temperature recorded in the Twin Cities was November 4, 1991.

California stormy streak

This may be the week the Californians have been waiting for in this well advertised El Nino winter. A family of Pacific storm fronts splashes ashore this week in California. Watch the maps turn green and blue along the west coast as heavy rains and mountain snows spin ashore.

Several inches of rainfall will trigger the usual flooding and mudslides. Several feet of welcome snow falls on the high Sierra.

The moisture comes a a good time. California's mountain snow pack is already running slightly above average at 105 percent statewide. As the series of fronts rams ashore, these numbers will go considerably higher in the next week.