Winter in Minnesota: Cold. Snow. Then really cold.
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Winter weather in Minnesota is ripe fodder for jokes of all manor.
Our forecast over the next week looks like something out of A Prairie Home Companion sketch. Cold. Snow. Bitter cold. Warmer.
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Wind chill advisories into Thursday morning
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In summer we say: "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."
In winter, it's not the air temperature as much as the biting wind chill that puts us into that curled walking posture we lovingly call the 'Minnesota hunch.'
Wind chills drop to -35 across northern Minnesota overnight and push -20s to -30 in the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota at times.
Wind chill advisories are up into Thursday morning for all of Minnesota.
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
344 PM CST WED DEC 14 2016
...DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS EXPECTED TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING...
...ACCUMULATING SNOW LIKELY FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING...
TEMPERATURES BETWEEN 10 AND 20 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ALONG WITH 5 TO 10 MPH WINDS THROUGH THE NIGHT WILL PRODUCE DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS OF NEAR 25 TO 30 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA AND WESTERN WISCONSIN.
SNOW WILL OVERSPREAD THE AREA DURING THE DAY FRIDAY AND BECOME LOCALLY HEAVY FRIDAY AFTERNOON INTO FRIDAY NIGHT BEFORE TAPERING OFF SATURDAY MORNING. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. THE RISK OF 6 INCHES OR MORE IS GREATEST ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM BENSON...TO CAMBRIDGE MINNESOTA...TO LADYSMITH WISCONSIN...WHERE A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN PLACE FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING.
Friday snow still on track
Friday's inbound snowstorm looks to be on track with some minor tweaks. The first is a shot of light snow late Thursday night and Friday morning that could slick up Friday AM rush. The warm advection snow band will produce under an inch, but with temperatures in the single digits above zero roads will slick up in a hurry and could make Friday AM rush hour dicey.
The main wave of snow still arrives Friday afternoon and evening. The bulk of the heavier snow is still on track for Friday night.
Snowfall totals still look heavy across southern Minnesota. I'm not yet convinced that we'll see totals as heavy as what NWS is offering below creep north into the Twin Cities, but the potential for heavy snow is there especially in southern Minnesota. The odds of a 'significantly plowable' snow is high from St. Cloud through the Twin Cities south to the Iowa border and beyond.
Coldest air in nearly 3 years by Sunday?
The air mass behind our early weekend snow is downright barbaric. The GFS and European models crank out temps to -25 for the Twin Cities by Sunday morning. I'm not sure we'll get quite that cold in the inner metro urban core, but the suburbs probably will. Fuchsia on the weather map generally means pain.
The last time things got this cold in Minnesota? Almost 3 years ago in the Twin Cities. If we somehow manage to hit -24 or colder at MSP it would be the coldest shot in almost 21 years!
Temps moderate next week
The core of the coldest sub-zero air passes over Minnesota Sunday morning into Monday afternoon. Milder Pacific flow pushes warmer air in here next week. Watch as temps soar toward the lower 30s by next Tuesday.
