Winter's coldest temps may peak this week

It’s the dead of winter in Minnesota and we all know winter can hang on for a couple more months in any given year. I’m reminded of that classic Sears Diehard battery commercial this time of year. Those were the good old days of winter in Minnesota.

Of course, in recent decades climate change has clipped the wings of winter here. Winter is the fastest-warming season here.

Overall winter temperatures have warmed more than 5 degrees on average since 1970.

So while winter can hang on and bring plenty of snow in March, or April, there are signs that the worst of winter’s cold is rapidly moving behind us after this week.

Here are a few key points:

• We’re now past the coldest four weeks of winter in Minnesota on average

• Our average high and low temperatures warm about 10 degrees during February (34/9)

• Daylight and solar warming potential is now increasing more than 2 1/2 hours each day

• In three more weeks, daylight increases by three minutes a day

With the additional daylight and higher sun angle in February, it’s much harder to sustain deep arctic outbreaks. The shots of arctic air we get for the rest of winter tend to be more glancing and don’t last as long.

Our next thaw looks likely as we move through the weekend into next Monday. Note the presence of 50-degree temperatures in southern Iowa.

And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s eight to 4-day outlook into mid-February slightly favors warmer-than-average temperatures overall.

As we move into the last month of meteorological winter in Minnesota in February, we can start to see the subtle changes in daylight and more frequent thaws.

Winter is not done with Minnesota yet, but the worst weeks of winter are likely behind us after this week.

Stay tuned.