Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

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Welcome to the coldest morning in six months in Minnesota. 

The temperature bottomed out at 24 degrees Tuesday morning at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Up north, temperatures bottomed into the teens with even a few single-digit readings. 

Winds gusted to around 50 mph along Minnesota’s North Shore near Grand Marais.

Grand Forks, N.D., set a new daily low-temperature record for Oct. 18, bottoming out at 9 degrees in the morning. This appears to have broken the previous record of 10 degrees for this date set in 1972, pending confirmation.

Here are some select minimum temperatures reported in Minnesota Tuesday morning: 

Now we begin a gradual warming trend that will send temperatures as much as 20 degrees warmer than average by this weekend.

Highs Wednesday will still be cool, with 50s edging into western Minnesota.

By Friday the 60s return to the Twin Cities, with 70s gathering to the west.

Highs will be in the 70s this weekend in the Twin Cities. Sunday will be the warmest day with the mid-70s in the south and west. 

We desperately need rain across Minnesota. Forecast models are hinting at a potentially decent rainfall event Sunday night into early Monday. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model cranks up a pretty strong low-pressure system that looks likely to spread rain and possible thunderstorms across Minnesota Sunday night into Monday. 

It’s still early, but some forecast models suggest an inch of badly needed moisture for parts of Minnesota.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Temperatures warmings gradually this week.

Record cold up north; 70s ahead this weekend

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