Mild temps this week; January is warmer than normal

We had very light winds overnight, which led to some areas of fog and freezing fog that lingered into Sunday morning in parts of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Visibilities have been lowest over Iowa—a dense fog advisory continues Sunday morning in north-central and northeastern Iowa.

Much of Minnesota and western Wisconsin will have an enjoyable Sunday afternoon, with sunshine and scattered clouds.

You can find updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the Minnesota Public Radio News network, and on the MPR News live weather blog.

Air quality

When winds are light and there is a temperature inversion (warmer air aloft), pollutants can become trapped at low levels. The air quality status in the Twin Cities is in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category Sunday morning. People who have asthma or COPD are among the sensitive groups than can be affected by these air quality conditions.

You can find the most recent air quality status map posted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency here. A detailed look at current air quality readings at the various metro area sensors can be found here.

Plenty of snow

If you’re planning to do some sledding, cross-country skiing or snowboarding today, you’ll be happy to know that most areas have plenty of snow on the ground.

Here’s the latest Minnesota snow depth map, from the Minnesota State Climatology Office:

The official Twin Cities snow depth is 15 inches, but some spots in the metro area have 18 inches or more of snow on the ground. Much of Lake County and Cook County of northeastern Minnesota have between 24 and 36 inches of snow cover. The lowest snow depths are in far southeastern Minnesota, where some spots have less than four inches on the ground.

Freezing fog may return Sunday night

The pressure pattern will be fairly loose tonight into Monday, so our winds will be fairly light overnight Sunday night into Monday morning. That could lead to some areas of fog and freezing fog in Minnesota and western Wisconsin plus parts of Iowa.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the pressure pattern and the potential precipitation pattern from Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon:

Check forecast updates Monday morning.

Temperature trends

Sunday afternoon highs will be mainly in the 20s across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. A few spots in southwestern Minnesota could top 30 degrees. Metro area highs are expected to be close to our average Twin Cities high for this date, which is 24 degrees.

Monday highs will be in the 20s in many areas, with some lower 30s from southeastern Minnesota into southwestern Wisconsin:

Monday afternoon wind chills will be mainly in the teens above zero:

Back to high temps, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to be around 30 on Tuesday, followed by mid-30s Wednesday, lower 30s Thursday and upper 20s on Friday.

Temperatures may stay above normal next weekend and into the start of the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a strong tendency for above normal temperatures in Minnesota and Wisconsin from Jan. 13 through Jan. 17:

Weather nugget

The Twin Cities high temperature was in the 30s on 4 of the first 5 days this January. The Twin Cities average temperature (which is the average of all the daily high temps and low temps) was 5.5 degrees warmer than normal for the first 7 days of January.

Programming note

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