Cooler but still well above normal this week

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We’re running out of ways to say “cold.”  

The Sunday morning low temp at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 15 degrees below zero. The afternoon high at MSP was 3 below zero; that’s a full 30 degrees colder than our average Feb. 7 Twin Cities high of 27!  

Low temps Sunday night and early Monday are expected to reach the 20s below zero in roughly the northern third of Minnesota plus northwestern Wisconsin. There will be some teens below zero and single digits below zero elsewhere.

Monday highs reach the single digits above zero in the southern half of Minnesota, with below-zero highs to the north:

Wind chill warnings (shaded darker blue) continue Sunday night through Monday and until noon on Tuesday for roughly the northern third of Minnesota:

Here are details of the wind chill warnings in northeastern Minnesota:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Duluth MN 301 PM CST Sun Feb 7 2021 ...PROLONGED PERIOD OF BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES AND WIND CHILLS... MNZ010>012-018>021-026-080915- /O.CON.KDLH.WC.W.0001.000000T0000Z-210209T1800Z/ Koochiching-North St. Louis-Northern Cook and Lake-North Itasca- Central St. Louis-Southern Lake-Southern Cook-South Itasca- Including the cities of International Falls, Ely, Isabella, Bigfork, Hibbing, Two Harbors, Silver Bay, Grand Marais, and Grand Rapids 301 PM CST Sun Feb 7 2021 ...WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST TUESDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously cold wind chills. Wind chills as low as 45 below zero. * WHERE...Northern Cook and Lake, South Itasca, Koochiching, Southern Cook, Southern Lake, North St. Louis, North Itasca and Central St. Louis Counties. This includes the Tribal Lands of the Grand Portage Reservation and the Bois Forte Band, Deer Creek, Nett Lake and, Lake Vermillion areas. * WHEN...Until noon CST Tuesday. * IMPACTS...The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Avoid outside activities if possible. When outside, make sure you wear appropriate clothing, a hat, and gloves.

Wind chill advisories cover the light-blue shaded area.

Counties just to the north of the metro area and toward Eau Claire, Wis., are in the wind chill advisory into Monday morning, but the advisory continues until noon Tuesday in Morris, St. Cloud, Brainerd and Fergus Falls:

Southern Minnesota, including the I-90 corridor, could see some light snow at times Sunday evening.  A passing flurry is possible in the Twin Cities metro area.

It stays cold. Twin Cities high temps are projected to be around 6 above on Tuesday, followed by 8 on Wednesday, then 3 on Thursday and zero on Friday.  

There aren’t any immediate signs of a significant warmup. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a strong signal for below-normal temps in Minnesota and Wisconsin from next weekend into the middle of the following week:

That mild weather of January already seems like a distant memory.

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Ron Trenda

Author

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