Coldest temperatures of the season moving in

NINA MOINI: Well, the temperatures sure shot down today, didn't they? I bet you were maybe feeling a new level of cold this morning. Maybe you woke up to some fresh snow, a little bit of a dusting here in the Twin Cities. For a full weather report, MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner joins us now. Hi, Paul.

PAUL HUTTNER: Hey, Nina. We're bringing back the Minnesota hunch, where your shoulders are kind of hunched over, and you're scurrying to get to the car to get inside and get out of that wind chill today.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and just aching. Just, like, joints aching. It's a lot. [LAUGHS] So how cold is it going to get this week?

PAUL HUTTNER: Well, this will be the season's coldest air mass so far, Nina. It's an arctic front, that gusty northwest wind out there today. It's already 11 below 0 in Hallock in Northwest Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: Oof.

PAUL HUTTNER: It's subzero from about Little Falls and Alexandria North right now. Twin Cities were at 10 above, but that wind chill makes it feel like 8 below right now.

And we've got a new Weather Service phrase. They're trotting out the cold weather advisory for all of Northern Minnesota from now through 10:00 AM tomorrow. Gone are the wind chill advisories and warnings because cold is cold. They're just calling it a cold weather advisory, Nina.

NINA MOINI: I think that was a good move.

PAUL HUTTNER: I think so. They call it hazard simplification because we want our hazards simple in Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. [LAUGHS]

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. So, really, the core of this cold air comes through today, tonight, and into tomorrow morning. And tomorrow morning will be the coldest morning. We're at 10 now in the Twin Cities. We'll drop to 0 by late this afternoon, 5 below by tomorrow morning, and 20s below up in Northwest Minnesota. So it is serious cold.

And then tomorrow, we'll struggle up to about 7. And then Friday, we'll start to dig our way out. Sunshine, 18 in the Twin Cities. And then the weekend looks milder, Nina. 30s, maybe a wintry mix for Southern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities Saturday. Mostly cloudy, milder Sunday, a bit of a thaw. 38, maybe even 40 degrees in the Twin Cities.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, that's been fascinating to feel these highs and lows and ups and downs. But it is nice to be able to have some melting and to be able to get outside a little bit. I'm curious as we do begin to approach the holidays-- Christmas, Hanukkah, several holidays coming up for folks. It's still a ways out, but I'm curious, what is the outlook?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, the outlook for next week looks pretty tame so far. Still mild Monday-- we're in the 30s for Southern Minnesota. A little cooler, then mainly 20s to low 30s, it looks like, next week. Chance of snow Wednesday, doesn't look like a huge system at this point. So I don't see any big scary snowstorms right now in the week leading up to Christmas.

And then you get two weeks out to Christmas, there are signs of milder air and colder air several days. But again, no big snows yet. But those things can certainly change as we head through the next week or so. We'll be watching that as we head toward Christmas week.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and I know we're coming up on the winter solstice next weekend. And that's going to mean later sunsets for us, right?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yes, so this is great. I love this. I like to say, evening daylight lovers can rejoice now in Minnesota, because here's something kind of making spirits bright. The earliest sunset in the Twin Cities occurs this week, 4:31 PM. That's the earliest sunset of the year, and it starts to get later already this weekend. And by the end of December, we gain 10 minutes of evening daylight when the sun sets at 4:41 on New Year's Eve.

And so some people are asking, well, how can that happen before the solstice, right, on December 21? That's still the shortest day. But Earth's elliptical orbit kind of plays tricks with the sunrise and sunset times around the solstices.

NINA MOINI: Oh.

PAUL HUTTNER: So sunsets actually start getting later before the solstice. So I like to say, on clear evenings, by the end of the month, when the sun sets at 4:41, it's light out there until 5 o'clock now. And that only gets later as we move in toward January. So a little bit of hope here as we head into this arctic air mass today.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, that does really make a big difference for folks. I want to make sure we don't let you go before we talk about the most wonderful time of year, which is, of course, the MnDOT Name a Snowplow contest. Is that on your radar?

PAUL HUTTNER: Absolutely. That goes from now through December 20 at noon. You can submit your name. You can submit one name. And what I love, Nina, is some of the past winners are incredible. They started this in 2020, 2021. Taylor Drift, that's one of my favorites.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, a classic.

PAUL HUTTNER: Classic. Betty Whiteout, right? Scoop Dog, Darth Blader, and my personal favorite-- Edward Blizzard Hands.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. [LAUGHS] Yeah, that really does make winter more fun and more tolerable for everyone. So folks should definitely get their suggestions in.

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, love it, love it.

NINA MOINI: All right. Thank you so much, Paul. Always appreciate you.

PAUL HUTTNER: And you. Thanks, Nina.

NINA MOINI: That's MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.