Frigid temperatures to follow Wednesday wind, snow
Snow whips off the curved roof of a Metro Transit shelter in downtown Minneapolis during a winter storm on March 26.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
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Wind and even some snow began to whip wildly in the Twin Cities metro Wednesday morning and much of the state faces a wind advisory for Wednesday afternoon. That plus falling temperatures from north to south are making for a potentially brutal chill this evening. MPR News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard joins host Nina Moini with more on what’s to come, including potential snow for much of the state.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: If you've been outside at all in the Twin Cities metro area in the past hour or two, you know that the wind and even some snow starting to whip wildly. So much of the state is facing a wind advisory for this afternoon. That on top of falling temperatures from the north to the south are making for a potentially brutal chill this evening. So for more on what's to come, including potential snow for much of the state, is our own meteorologist, Sven Sundgaard. Hi, Sven. Thanks for being here.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Hi, Nina, of course. Not much else to do. Can't be outside, really, right now.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, you're like, that's my job.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah.
NINA MOINI: Well, you're busy right now. Tell me more about this whipping wind. I haven't been outside, but I'm hearing from folks in the building, it's nasty.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, take our word for it. It is windy out there. We've had some pretty impressive gusts just in the last hour now, actually. So winds are peaking in the Twin Cities at the moment, 49-mile-an-hour gusts at MSP. But Rochester has had a 55-mile-an-hour gust in the last hour. So those wind gusts are right in that 40 to even potentially 60-mile-an-hour gust range today. I think the North Shore could see some of the higher gusts once it really gets going there.
So we do have a wind advisory for pretty much most of the state, Central, Southern Minnesota, all of Northeastern Minnesota. We also have a winter weather advisory for Northwestern Minnesota through 6:00 PM due to the blowing snow there. They didn't get a lot of snow, but a quick half inch to an inch of snow, of course, in that open area. Fewer trees in Northwestern Minnesota, North Dakota really can whip up some visibilities. And on top of all of that, they did actually get a pretty decent snowfall in Northeastern Minnesota yesterday, 6.5 inches in Grand Marais, 2.5 inches in Cook, 2 inches in Finland, and some people probably seeing on their phones going off occasionally today these snow squall warnings, wondering what that might be.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, what is that?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, there was one in the metro for about a half hour, just about an hour ago. And those are just these intense bursts of snow. We're literally cooling off the atmosphere so quickly aloft that it's creating instability that is similar to how thunderstorms form, where you just get this rapid explosion of warm, moist air, not enough to produce a storm, but they produce these snow bursts. And that is largely diminished for the moment, but still a pretty good little burst of snow, Cottage Grove right now, down to Ellsworth, Wisconsin, also seeing a decent one around St. Peter. And there's just scattered ones kind of all over the state.
No squall warnings right now, but we could see more today. And when you get one of those get a quick coating to a half inch or so of snow, and then, of course, the wind whipping it all around. And this is all the result of this Arctic front that has dropped the temperatures. We topped out at 36 degrees earlier. We're now down to 23 in the Twin Cities. Feels like it's 5 with that wind. And by the evening, we're going to be in the low teens in the Twin Cities, and it'll be barely above zero in Northwestern Minnesota by 6:00 PM.
NINA MOINI: Wow. Thanks for letting us know. That's definitely something to be mindful of this evening. It's been frigid, though, this entire start to this month. And looking back on the fall, we were shattering warmth records. So what do you make of that?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, of course, we're only four days into meteorological winter, and it has been below normal so far. But yeah, fall really just shattered records, so meteorological fall, September, October, November, warmest fall by far in the Twin Cities on record, going back to 1873 and also statewide. Normally, when we're breaking these records, it's by 1/10 or 2/10 of a degree, and we're waiting until the final days to know if we're going to break it or not. It's usually a neck-and-neck race. But this year, we broke it by a full degree in the Twin Cities.
In September, also, we shattered the previous September records. And last winter, we shattered, of course, the warmest winter records that people will remember the lack of snow, but also very warm temperatures. So it's been a pretty crazy year. And most of the last 12 months, globally, have reached that 1.5 degrees Celsius or higher that we've been trying to avoid, as far as climate change. And 6 of the top 10 warmest falls in the Twin Cities have all been since 2011, so just the last 13, 14 years, which is really incredible. Fall is one of our fastest warming periods in the year right now.
NINA MOINI: Wow that's fascinating. Let's talk about tonight. You talked a little bit about the forecast for this evening, but tell me a little bit more and then what's in store for the rest of the week.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, so those temperatures will continue to drop tonight. And it's going to stay fairly breezy, 10 to 20-mile-an-hour winds out of the northwest, not as windy as right now, but that's enough where wind chills tomorrow morning are going to be subzero statewide, probably single digits below 0 is what it'll feel like in the Twin Cities, yeah, teens below zero in Northwestern Minnesota. The actual air temperatures will drop to probably 6, 7 degrees in the Twin Cities and below 0 in the northwest part of the state. I don't think we'll get out of the teens tomorrow in Southern Minnesota, single digits to the northwest. But we should see some sunshine. That cold, dry air does help break some holes in the clouds.
NINA MOINI: What about this weekend? I feel like I'm seeing some warmer temps on the horizon.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, just hang on. The nice thing about this current blast of cold is it's going to be very brief, just literally tonight into tomorrow, and then things already improve Friday. We're back in the 20s across Southern Minnesota, teens to the north. We do have another weak clipper system that will once again brush mostly Northeastern Minnesota Friday into Friday night. Looks like a fairly light snow out of that, but then, yeah, warmer temperatures here. Looks like Saturday and Sunday, we could top out at 40 degrees in the Twin Cities and much of Southern Minnesota and probably above freezing on Monday, too. And just think of how amazing that will feel after what we've been through. Normal highs by this weekend range from 31 in Southern Minnesota to 23 in the northern part of the state. So those readings will be at least 10 degrees above normal this weekend.
NINA MOINI: That's great. Thank you for filling us in on this little weather roller coaster spin.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, hold on to your hat today.
NINA MOINI: Thanks. That was MPR News Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Hi, Nina, of course. Not much else to do. Can't be outside, really, right now.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, you're like, that's my job.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah.
NINA MOINI: Well, you're busy right now. Tell me more about this whipping wind. I haven't been outside, but I'm hearing from folks in the building, it's nasty.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, take our word for it. It is windy out there. We've had some pretty impressive gusts just in the last hour now, actually. So winds are peaking in the Twin Cities at the moment, 49-mile-an-hour gusts at MSP. But Rochester has had a 55-mile-an-hour gust in the last hour. So those wind gusts are right in that 40 to even potentially 60-mile-an-hour gust range today. I think the North Shore could see some of the higher gusts once it really gets going there.
So we do have a wind advisory for pretty much most of the state, Central, Southern Minnesota, all of Northeastern Minnesota. We also have a winter weather advisory for Northwestern Minnesota through 6:00 PM due to the blowing snow there. They didn't get a lot of snow, but a quick half inch to an inch of snow, of course, in that open area. Fewer trees in Northwestern Minnesota, North Dakota really can whip up some visibilities. And on top of all of that, they did actually get a pretty decent snowfall in Northeastern Minnesota yesterday, 6.5 inches in Grand Marais, 2.5 inches in Cook, 2 inches in Finland, and some people probably seeing on their phones going off occasionally today these snow squall warnings, wondering what that might be.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, what is that?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, there was one in the metro for about a half hour, just about an hour ago. And those are just these intense bursts of snow. We're literally cooling off the atmosphere so quickly aloft that it's creating instability that is similar to how thunderstorms form, where you just get this rapid explosion of warm, moist air, not enough to produce a storm, but they produce these snow bursts. And that is largely diminished for the moment, but still a pretty good little burst of snow, Cottage Grove right now, down to Ellsworth, Wisconsin, also seeing a decent one around St. Peter. And there's just scattered ones kind of all over the state.
No squall warnings right now, but we could see more today. And when you get one of those get a quick coating to a half inch or so of snow, and then, of course, the wind whipping it all around. And this is all the result of this Arctic front that has dropped the temperatures. We topped out at 36 degrees earlier. We're now down to 23 in the Twin Cities. Feels like it's 5 with that wind. And by the evening, we're going to be in the low teens in the Twin Cities, and it'll be barely above zero in Northwestern Minnesota by 6:00 PM.
NINA MOINI: Wow. Thanks for letting us know. That's definitely something to be mindful of this evening. It's been frigid, though, this entire start to this month. And looking back on the fall, we were shattering warmth records. So what do you make of that?
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, of course, we're only four days into meteorological winter, and it has been below normal so far. But yeah, fall really just shattered records, so meteorological fall, September, October, November, warmest fall by far in the Twin Cities on record, going back to 1873 and also statewide. Normally, when we're breaking these records, it's by 1/10 or 2/10 of a degree, and we're waiting until the final days to know if we're going to break it or not. It's usually a neck-and-neck race. But this year, we broke it by a full degree in the Twin Cities.
In September, also, we shattered the previous September records. And last winter, we shattered, of course, the warmest winter records that people will remember the lack of snow, but also very warm temperatures. So it's been a pretty crazy year. And most of the last 12 months, globally, have reached that 1.5 degrees Celsius or higher that we've been trying to avoid, as far as climate change. And 6 of the top 10 warmest falls in the Twin Cities have all been since 2011, so just the last 13, 14 years, which is really incredible. Fall is one of our fastest warming periods in the year right now.
NINA MOINI: Wow that's fascinating. Let's talk about tonight. You talked a little bit about the forecast for this evening, but tell me a little bit more and then what's in store for the rest of the week.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, so those temperatures will continue to drop tonight. And it's going to stay fairly breezy, 10 to 20-mile-an-hour winds out of the northwest, not as windy as right now, but that's enough where wind chills tomorrow morning are going to be subzero statewide, probably single digits below 0 is what it'll feel like in the Twin Cities, yeah, teens below zero in Northwestern Minnesota. The actual air temperatures will drop to probably 6, 7 degrees in the Twin Cities and below 0 in the northwest part of the state. I don't think we'll get out of the teens tomorrow in Southern Minnesota, single digits to the northwest. But we should see some sunshine. That cold, dry air does help break some holes in the clouds.
NINA MOINI: What about this weekend? I feel like I'm seeing some warmer temps on the horizon.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, just hang on. The nice thing about this current blast of cold is it's going to be very brief, just literally tonight into tomorrow, and then things already improve Friday. We're back in the 20s across Southern Minnesota, teens to the north. We do have another weak clipper system that will once again brush mostly Northeastern Minnesota Friday into Friday night. Looks like a fairly light snow out of that, but then, yeah, warmer temperatures here. Looks like Saturday and Sunday, we could top out at 40 degrees in the Twin Cities and much of Southern Minnesota and probably above freezing on Monday, too. And just think of how amazing that will feel after what we've been through. Normal highs by this weekend range from 31 in Southern Minnesota to 23 in the northern part of the state. So those readings will be at least 10 degrees above normal this weekend.
NINA MOINI: That's great. Thank you for filling us in on this little weather roller coaster spin.
SVEN SUNDGAARD: Yeah, hold on to your hat today.
NINA MOINI: Thanks. That was MPR News Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard.
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