Wind chill at minus 50? Coldest air in seven years Friday morning for much of Minnesota
Twin Cities temps approach minus 20 Friday morning; minus 30s to minus 40 up north
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A wind chill of 50 degrees below zero?
That’s what forecast models including The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Digital Forecast Database are cranking out for northern Minnesota by around 6 a.m. Friday. (See the map above.)
In the meantime, we’ve been dealing with blizzard conditions into Wednesday evening in southwestern Minnesota and parts of Iowa.
Our inbound arctic air mass blows into Minnesota Thursday with the core of the coldest air of winter passing overhead early Friday morning. The last time we hit minus 20 degrees in the Twin Cities was late January 2019.
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Wind chills (apparent temperatures on exposed skin) will feel like at least minus 40 degrees in the Twin Cities and most of Minnesota Friday morning.
Actual air temperatures will approach minus 20 degrees in the Twin Cities, especially in the suburbs, with minus 30s to minus 40 degrees possible in the north.
NOAA’s new winter weather terminology details the extreme cold warning for Minnesota Thursday evening into Friday:
Including the cities of Chippewa Falls, St Peter, Mankato, Stillwater, Victoria, Hudson, Fairmont, Blue Earth, Hutchinson, Olivia, Faribault, Gaylord, Waseca, Owatonna, Benson, Madison, Elk River, Redwood Falls, New Ulm, Cambridge, River Falls, St Paul, Minneapolis, Menomonie, Shakopee, Red Wing, Durand, Blaine, Chanhassen, St James, Center City, Litchfield, Monticello, Osceola, Montevideo, Granite Falls, Albert Lea, Willmar, Hastings, Rice Lake, Eau Claire, Ladysmith, Le Sueur, and Chaska
1202 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026
...EXTREME COLD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THURSDAY TO 11 AM CST FRIDAY...
...EXTREME COLD WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING...
* WHAT...For the Extreme Cold Warning, dangerously cold wind chills of 35 to 45 below expected. For the Extreme Cold Watch, dangerously cold wind chills as low as 35 below possible.
* WHERE...Portions of central, east central, south central, southeast, southwest, and west central Minnesota and northwest and west central Wisconsin.
* WHEN...For the Extreme Cold Warning, from 9 PM Thursday to 11 AM CST Friday. For the Extreme Cold Watch, from Friday morning through Saturday morning.
* IMPACTS...The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 45 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.
Here are the extreme cold details for northwestern and northeastern Minnesota.
“High” temperatures Friday will stay well below zero across Minnesota.
We’ll recover a few degrees this weekend with highs near zero and into the single digits above zero in the south.
Overall, we could spend about 60 straight subzero hours in the south with the potential for more than 80 straight subzero hours in the north.
Less cold next week
It will still feel colder than normal next week across Minnesota.
Our normal high and low temperatures next week for the Twin Cities are 24 and 8 degrees.
Highs next week favor teens in the south. Colder as usual as you move north.
Right now, forecast models do not suggest a big thaw around the Upper Midwest for the next two weeks. But that can change. Hopefully quickly.
Stay tuned.
