Colder Thursday; a shot at 40 degrees next week
A bonus January thaw looks likely next week

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Ups and downs. Strikes and gutters.
That’s the way of the world when it comes to Minnesota winters. In our current context, we’ll ride a bit of a temperature roller coaster again over the next week.
A cold front dropping south through Minnesota into Thursday reminds us of a few enduring winter truths. We live at 45 degrees north latitude, near the geographic center of North America, and it’s still January.
Temperatures will fall to around zero in the south early Thursday.
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Highs Thursday afternoon will hover in the single digits above zero north, to about 10 in the south.

More seasonable winter air returns Friday through Sunday with highs mainly back into the 20s.

January thaw again next week
It’s nice to get these little mild breaks from a January that’s running a good 4 degrees colder than normal. Forecast models still crank out highs in the 30s to possibly low 40s from the Twin Cities southward next Monday through Wednesday.

Colder air is likely to return later next week. The medium-range forecast maps suggest we’ll bounce between colder arctic swipes and occasional mild spells as we move into February.
There is some hint of increased snowfall next month.

But the bar is low after this dry Janaury.
Stay tuned.