Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Temps swing Wednesday-Thursday; sustained warmup starts Friday

Warmer Wednesday but briefly colder Friday before a mild stretch

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Forecast high temperatures Wednesday afternoon
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via Pivotal Weather

Wednesday will be a warmer day but cold will surge back south briefly late Thursday into Friday before a sustained weekend warm up. Plus, February is a month of brighter and warmer changes.

Temps swing; sustained warmup starts Friday

We’ll see highs in the upper teens to near 20 degrees in southern Minnesota Wednesday afternoon with single digits in far northern Minnesota.

There will be a brief pause in our warming trend as the cold air, which just retreated slightly to the north, swings back south Thursday into Friday. Light snow showers will develop ahead of that front Wednesday night into early Thursday.

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Forecast precipitation Wednesday night into early Thursday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Portions of northern Minnesota will see a coating of snow while just flurries are likely south.

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Forecast snowfall Wednesday night into early Thursday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Low temperatures Thursday night into early Friday will be frigid again, rivaling readings we saw earlier this week.

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Forecast low temperatures Thursday night into early Friday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

Highs Friday will be pretty chilly, in the single digits with cold sunshine.

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Forecast high temperatures Friday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

By Saturday, most places warm up 40 to 50 degrees from those Friday morning lows to Saturday afternoon highs.

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Forecast high temperatures Saturday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

The peak of the warmth may come Monday when parts of southern Minnesota could get close to 40.

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Forecast high temperatures Monday
NOAA, via Pivotal Weather

February is a month of big changes

Welcome to February! It’s the winter month with the most change in terms of average temperature and sunlight.

Normal high temperatures increase by an average of 6 degrees this month from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 across the state and are even above freezing by the end of the month.

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Change in normal (1991-2020 average) high temperatures through the month
Sven Sundgaard, National Weather Service data

We’ve gained 1 hour and 2 minutes of daylight since the winter solstice but that pace of daylight gain has really increased and continues at about 3 minutes per day this month. We gain an additional 1 hour and 18 minutes of light just this month.

daylight gain
Gain in total daylight from February 1 through 28
Sven Sundgaard

In the Twin Cities, the sunrise on Feb. 1 is 7:32 a.m. but by the end of the month it’s at 6:52 a.m., and the sunset is nearly 6 p.m. by Feb 28.

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Change in sunrise and sunset times for the Twin Cities through February
Sven Sundgaard