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Weather and Climate News
Andrew Krueger
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Amid dangerous cold, dozens of Minnesota school districts cancel classes Friday

Snow drifts across a state highway
Snow drifts across State Highway 27 near Herman in western Minnesota on Wednesday. Bitter cold is forecast to descend across Minnesota for the next few days, with some of the coldest conditions seen in parts of the state in at least five years.
Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Some Minnesota school districts made the move to online learning Thursday, as what could be the coldest weather in at least five years started descending on the region.

Other districts announced plans to dismiss classes early on Thursday, as temperatures fall.

Widespread school cancellations and e-learning days are expected on Friday, when wind chills of 35 to 55 below zero are expected across Minnesota. By midday Thursday, many districts had already made the call to cancel classes Friday — including St. Paul, Anoka-Hennepin, Duluth, Chisago Lakes and Kasson-Mantorville.

Bemidji, Bloomington and Pelican Rapids were among the districts moving to e-learning days on Friday. The University of Minnesota announced that its Twin Cities, Duluth and Rochester campuses would be on reduced operations Friday.

Find a complete list of schools below.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office said Thursday that he’s encouraging school districts to monitor the weather forecast and stay in contact with families — but he has not moved to order schools closed on Friday. There is precedent for such a move; Walz’s predecessor, Mark Dayton, ordered all public schools in Minnesota to close due to forecast dangerously cold conditions in January 2014.

Extreme cold warnings are in effect for nearly the entire state from Thursday into Friday, and could be extended further as the arctic blast continues into the weekend.

The National Weather Service forecast office in Duluth reported that there could be the “coldest temperatures in at least five years for many locations (and) perhaps the coldest in a decade for some spots.”

Air temperatures could approach 30 below zero in parts of northern Minnesota early Friday, with wind chills in the 50s below zero.

The Twin Cities could see an air temperature near 20 below on Friday morning, with a wind chill near 40 below.

In addition to schools canceling classes, the forecast has prompted some event organizers to change plans. The U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, set to take place over the next few days at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, has canceled all games on Friday.

“This is not a decision made lightly — our priority is keeping players and staff safe,” organizers said in a statement posted online. Games are set to resume on Saturday and Sunday.

The St. Paul Winter Carnival canceled its outdoor events for Thursday night and Friday; indoor events will continue as scheduled.

Organizers of the annual Hockey Day Minnesota events — taking place in Hastings this year — said all games are still on as scheduled.

“Fans attending Hockey Day Minnesota games on Friday and Saturday are encouraged to dress appropriately with multiple layers and blankets,” organizers said in a Facebook post. “Heated tents and fire pits will be available for fans to use throughout the complex.”

The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced that a project planned for this weekend — setting beams for the new Kellogg Boulevard / Third Street bridge over Interstate 94 east of downtown St. Paul — has been postponed until Feb. 6-8 because of the frigid forecast. That bridge work, when it happens, will require a weekend closure of the freeway.

School changes for Friday, Jan. 23

Check for updates from your local school district about the status of classes

Closed

  • Anoka Technical College

  • Anoka-Hennepin

  • Anoka-Ramsey Community College — all campuses

  • Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City

  • Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

  • Blooming Prairie

  • Blue Earth Area

  • Brainerd

  • Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose

  • Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart

  • Burnsville-Eagan-Savage

  • Byron

  • Central Lakes College — Brainerd and Staples campuses

  • Chatfield

  • Chisago Lakes

  • Clearbrook-Gonvick

  • Cloquet

  • Cook County

  • Dakota County Technical College

  • Dassel-Cokato

  • Deer River

  • Detroit Lakes

  • Duluth

  • Eastern Carver County

  • Eden Prairie

  • Edina

  • Ely

  • Esko

  • Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College

  • Forest Lake Area

  • Glencoe-Silver Lake

  • Goodhue

  • Grand Meadow

  • Grand Rapids Area

  • Greenway

  • Hastings

  • Hayfield

  • Hendricks

  • Hennepin Technical College

  • Henning

  • Hinckley-Finlayson

  • Hudson, Wis.

  • Inver Grove Heights

  • Kasson-Mantorville

  • Kelliher

  • Kimball Area

  • Lanesboro

  • Le Sueur-Henderson

  • LeRoy-Ostrander

  • Lewiston-Altura

  • Lyle

  • Mabel-Canton

  • Mankato Area

  • Maple River

  • Martin County West

  • McGregor

  • Minnesota North College — Hibbing, Itasca, Mesabi Range-Virginia, Mesabi Range-Eveleth and Vermilion campuses. Rainy River campus will be open

  • Minnesota State College Southeast — all campuses

  • Minnetonka

  • Mounds View

  • North Branch Area

  • North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale

  • Ogilvie

  • Onamia

  • Orono

  • Osceola, Wis.

  • Osseo Area

  • Owatonna

  • Pequot Lakes

  • Pillager

  • Pine City

  • Pine River-Backus

  • Prescott, Wis. (e-learning for some grades)

  • Proctor

  • Red Lake

  • Red Rock Central

  • Red Wing

  • Richfield

  • River Falls, Wis.

  • Rock Ridge

  • Rockford Area

  • Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan

  • Roseville Area

  • Rush City

  • Rushford-Peterson

  • St. Charles

  • St. Croix Falls, Wis.

  • St. Francis Area

  • St. Michael-Albertville

  • St. Louis Park

  • St. Paul

  • Sartell-St. Stephen (e-learning for grades 9-12)

  • Somerset, Wis.

  • South St. Paul

  • South Washington County

  • Southland

  • Spring Lake Park

  • Stillwater Area

  • Superior, Wis.

  • Triton

  • Upsala Area

  • Verndale (e-learning for grade 12)

  • Wabasso

  • Waconia

  • Waseca

  • West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan

  • Westonka

  • White Bear Lake Area

  • Winona Area

  • Winona State University — Rochester campus

  • Wrenshall

Online learning days

  • Aitkin

  • Albert Lea Area

  • Alexandria

  • Annandale

  • Ashby

  • Austin

  • Badger

  • Bagley

  • Barnesville

  • Battle Lake

  • Becker

  • Belle Plaine

  • Bemidji

  • Benson

  • Big Lake

  • Blackduck

  • Bloomington

  • BOLD

  • Caledonia Area

  • Cambridge-Isanti

  • Cannon Falls

  • Carlton

  • Cedar Mountain

  • Central (Norwood Young America)

  • Chisholm

  • Cleveland

  • College of St. Scholastica (reduced operations)

  • Columbia Heights

  • Cromwell-Wright

  • Delano

  • East Central

  • Eden Valley-Watkins

  • Edgerton

  • Elk River Area

  • Faribault

  • Farmington Area

  • Floodwood

  • Foley

  • Fond du Lac Ojibwe

  • Frazee-Vergas 

  • Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop

  • Greenbush-Middle River

  • Hermantown

  • Hibbing

  • Holdingford

  • Houston

  • Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted

  • Hutchinson

  • International Falls

  • Jordan

  • Kingsland

  • Laporte

  • Lake Benton

  • Lake Park Audubon

  • Lester Prairie

  • Litchfield

  • Little Falls

  • Lynd

  • MACCRAY

  • Mahnomen

  • Marshall

  • Menahga

  • Mesabi East

  • Milaca

  • Minneota

  • Montevideo

  • Monticello

  • Morris Area

  • Nevis

  • New London-Spicer

  • New Prague Area

  • New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva

  • New York Mills

  • Nicollet

  • Ortonville

  • Osakis

  • Park Rapids

  • Parkers Prairie

  • Pelican Rapids

  • Perham

  • Pine Island

  • Plainview-Elgin-Millville

  • Princeton

  • Red Lake Falls

  • Riverland Community College

  • Rocori

  • Rothsay

  • Royalton

  • St. Clair

  • St. Cloud Area

  • St. Cloud State University

  • St. James

  • St. Peter

  • Sauk Rapids-Rice

  • Sibley East

  • Sleepy Eye

  • South Central College — all campuses

  • Staples-Motley

  • Swanville

  • Tri-City United

  • Underwood

  • United South Central

  • University of Minnesota Duluth (reduced operations / online classes until 9 a.m. Saturday)

  • University of Minnesota Morris (reduced operations / online classes until 9 a.m. Saturday)

  • University of Minnesota Rochester (reduced operations / online classes until 7:30 a.m. Saturday)

  • University of Minnesota Twin Cities (reduced operations / online classes until 6 a.m. Saturday)

  • University of North Dakota

  • University of Wisconsin-Superior

  • Wabasha-Kellogg

  • Wadena-Deer Creek

  • Walker Hackensack Akeley

  • Warroad

  • Waubun-Ogema-White Earth

  • West Central Area

  • Wheaton Area

  • Willmar

  • Zumbrota–Mazeppa

School changes for Thursday, Jan. 22

Online learning days

  • Badger (also on Friday)

  • Greenbush-Middle River (also on Friday)

  • Warroad (also on Friday)

Early dismissal

  • Bagley — dismissing at 1 p.m. (online learning on Friday)

  • Blackduck — dismissing at 1:20 p.m.

  • Mahnomen — dismissing at noon (online learning on Friday)

  • Park Rapids — dismissing at 1 p.m. (online learning on Friday)

  • Red Lake — dismissing at 12:30/12:45 p.m. (closed Friday)

  • Waubun-Ogema-White Earth — dismissing at 12:10/12:15 p.m.

Forecast updates

Travel updates

These state transportation departments offer live updates on road conditions and crashes:

For bus and light rail riders in the Twin Cities, Metro Transit offers weather-related updates on its Metro Transit and Metro Transit Alerts social media pages, as well as on its website.