Cold eases Tuesday afternoon; few light snow showers north

Much warmer by the weekend

tue highs 9a
Forecast high temperatures Tuesday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via Pivotal Weather

Tuesday afternoon will bring temperatures above zero for most of Minnesota, with highs near 10 in southern Minnesota to near zero in the northwest corner. Wednesday will be even warmer with a few light snow showers north.

Temps warm slowly after another cold morning

It was another frigid morning, although most of northern Minnesota saw slightly warmer temperatures than Monday. Cotton, Minn., about 35 miles north of Duluth, dipped to 32 degrees below zero while the Twin Cities once again reached 8 below zero.

tue lows reported
Low temperatures reported between 6 a.m. Monday and 6 a.m. Tuesday
National Weather Service

High temperatures Tuesday afternoon will make some upward movement with highs close to 10 for parts of southern Minnesota to near zero in far northern Minnesota. We’ll also see abundant sunshine again.

Most of Minnesota will again dip below zero Tuesday night but not nearly as low as the last few nights.

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wed low 9a
Forecast low temperatures Tuesday night into early Wednesday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

We’ll see temperatures warm further, to almost 20 in southern Minnesota Wednesday afternoon.

wed highs 9a
Forecast high temperatures Wednesday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Temps dip briefly again before bigger warmup

We’ll have an interruption to the warming trend with a brief relapse of colder air diving south again Thursday into Friday. Ahead of it, light snow showers will bring a coating of snow to northern Minnesota but we should remain dry in southern Minnesota.

MN snow
Forecast snowfall through Thursday
National Weather Service

Low temperatures Thursday night into early Friday will be pretty frigid once again but short-lived. By Saturday we’re into the 20s and we’re even looking at likely above freezing highs next week in southern Minnesota.

In fact, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts computer model gives us a potential high near 40 degrees by Sunday:

sunday euro highs
Forecast high temperatures Sunday
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

Welcome to the two thirds point of meteorological winter!

For most of Minnesota it’s been a warmer than normal winter thus far. The winter temperature average for the Twin Cities is about two-tenths of a degree above the 30-year average from 1991 to 2020, which of course is much warmer than the historical average.

This is thanks to a mild January — 4.3 degrees above average in the Twin Cities — countering the chilly December temperatures.

The final winter average temperature numbers will likely go down some as February 2023 looks to finish below normal slightly.

Feb outlook
February temperature outlook
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center