Cold Sunday coming; then a moderating and storm-free week

Saturday afternoon certainly has been a chilly one, thanks to cold Canadian high pressure making its arrival. Parts of northwestern Minnesota including around Hallock, Crookston, Fosston and Fergus Falls did not reach zero degrees.

The short version of the general forecast for the state for the next week is for slowly moderating afternoon temperatures beginning on Monday and little or no snowfall.

Here is the outlook for the Twin Cities for Sunday through next Saturday.

Now for some details.

Cold Saturday night

That high pressure dome will become centered over Minnesota Saturday night. Skies will be clear in some areas and partly to mostly cloudy in others. Look for the just-past-full moon if you have clear skies this evening. The time it will rise in the east-northeast depends on your location since the moon is revolving around a rotating spherical Earth. For example, it will rise at 6:55 p.m. in Duluth, 7:07 p.m. in Minneapolis and 7:13 p.m. in Mankato. It will appear about 95 percent full.

Winds will become very light or calm. Perch those sky and wind conditions atop an abundant snowpack and you have great conditions for radiational cooling.

That means cold temperatures tonight. Look for lows in the minus teens Sunday morning for most of central and northern Minnesota and down to around 20 below in the northwest corner. Much of southern Minnesota should chill to minus singles. The Twin Cities should be somewhere around 7 below but colder in the northern and western suburbs. All these temperatures could be kept a bit warmer if a passing cloudy area provides a temporary blanket.

The record low temperature for the Twin Cities for tomorrow is 21 below.

The coldest official Twin Cities temperature last December was a very mild 6 above. Then we turned the page in January and fell to 28 below on January 30.

Chilly Sunday

Sunday will be a chilly day with a mix of sun and clouds. High temperatures should be in the single digits just about statewide. Southwestern Minnesota around Luverne, Worthington and Pipestone should crawl into the low teens. I think the Twin Cities core might just make 10 above.

Dry and moderating next week

As mentioned before, next week should be precipitation-free except for maybe occasional flurries. Afternoon temperatures will gradually become milder. Some afternoon high temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by late in the week.

Looking ahead toward Christmas

The 6-10 day precipitation probability outlook for December 20-24 (next Friday through Tuesday, Christmas Eve) is for a tendency for less snow than normal for our part of the country.

And the 6-10 day temperature probability outlook for that same period December 20-24 calls for a high probability of warmer-than-normal weather for much of the country and especially a huge part of the middle the middle.