Cold Thursday, warmer Friday; snow Friday night
Bitterly cold temperatures should ease into the teens by late afternoon Friday. Three clipper systems over the coming days each bring a chance of some fresh fluffy snow.
Subzero morning
It was another bitterly cold morning Thursday, with temperatures bottoming out in the teens and 20s below zero.
Among the coldest northern Minnesota temperatures: Crane Lake, near the Canadian border, touched minus 33; Big Fork recorded minus 31. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bottomed out at minus 10.
This marks our fifth time in the teens below zero this winter season and ends a nearly two week stretch without getting that cold.
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Normally, we receive about six overnight lows in the minus 10s or colder, based on our current 30-year normal from 1991-2020. From a climate change perspective, we used to average 12 to 16 nights at minus 10 or colder.
At least from a “normal” point of view, we’re about out of the woods with the coldest temps of winter.
We’ll only a manage a high Thursday of perhaps a few degrees above zero in the southern portions of Minnesota. Northern Minnesota will stay below zero.
Readings will initially drop Thursday night but then hold steady and even rise in western Minnesota as the coldest air exits the region for now.
Snow potential
Highs by Friday evening should be in the teens. This will expose us to the path of three different clipper systems over the next few days, each bringing some fresh fluffy snow. The first comes Friday evening. Temperatures will be cold so the totals will add up quick, despite not containing a whole lot of moisture content.
After a high in the teens again Saturday, another clipper comes through Saturday night, touching off another coating of fresh, fluffy snow.
We could see temperatures peak Monday morning, near 20, ahead of the next system that will have a little more moisture. The Monday system has some potential to drop more than a couple of inches.
Behind Monday’s snow will come more cold. Expect more subzero overnight lows and frigid daytime highs for Tuesday and Wednesday.
