Sunshine Tuesday before an arctic blast hits on Wednesday
Dangerous cold, especially Thursday morning
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Tuesday will remain relatively quiet, with sunshine across more of the state by afternoon. By Wednesday, a strong storm moves across Minnesota with snow, high winds, and plummeting temperatures.
Tuesday’s forecast
Tuesday started off mild for February and will stay slightly above average for almost all of the state, with highs predominantly in the 20s. The clouds and isolated flurries from the morning will clear by midday. By Tuesday afternoon, all but northern Minnesota will see more sunshine.
More clouds and light snow start to move into the northwestern corner of the state by Tuesday night. Winds will also start picking up for western Minnesota late in the day. The light snow and wind are part of a strong storm moving into the state.
Dangerous cold
A potent cold front will move across the state Wednesday, pushing into northwestern Minnesota by early Wednesday, and through southeastern Minnesota by Wednesday evening. Here is the forecast location as of noon Wednesday:
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It will bring falling temperatures and light snow as it moves, so northern Minnesota is likely to see temperatures tumble all day and light snow early Wednesday, while in southern Minnesota temperatures and snow are more likely to start falling in the afternoon.
The snow remains light, with most of the state seeing 1 to 2 inches or less.
However, the storm also brings high winds, especially for western Minnesota where winds could gust over 40 mph.
Even though the snow will be light, the highs winds could cause white-out conditions for areas near the North Dakota border.
Because of this, that part of Minnesota is under a winter storm watch Wednesday.
The falling temperatures put all of Minnesota below zero by Thursday morning. Adding in the winds, wind chills will be dangerously cold at 20 to 40 below for the entire state.
Northern Minnesota will likely see wind chills go even colder than minus 40 at times.
Most of the state stays below zero even during the day Thursday.
We start off 10 to 20 degrees below zero again Friday morning, but wind chills will not be as brutal on Friday and by the afternoon, temperatures bounce back into the teens. On Saturday, the entire state returns to above-average temperatures in the 20s and 30s.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.
