Cold air funnels across Minnesota Friday; Arctic cold returns next week

Parts of northern Minnesota started off Friday below zero, and by Saturday morning some places could be minus 20. Another round of light, statewide snow comes Sunday.

Friday’s weather

Northwestern Minnesota is under a wind chill advisory Friday until noon, due to temperatures that subzero temperatures and 10-20 mph winds.

Cold air continues to spread across the state Friday. Many places have set their high temperatures for the day already, and temperatures will either fall all day or warm just a couple degrees in the afternoon then continue to fall.

Here is the temperature trend for International Falls through Saturday morning, showing how temperatures (shown in red) nosedive. The blue line shows the winds chills, which will stay quite cold all of Friday:

Expected temperatures by Friday afternoon range from subzero in northwestern Minnesota to teens southeast.

Friday stays dry for most of the state, except that a system well south of Minnesota could bring flurries and breezier conditions by afternoon to southern Minnesota. All but northern Minnesota sees mostly cloudy skies Friday.

The weekend

Saturday starts off brutally cold, especially for northern Minnesota, where temperatures could dip below minus 20. The Twin Cities will cling just above 0.

Temperatures recover some by Saturday afternoon, but stay below average with most of Minnesota seeing highs only in the single digits, and eastern Minnesota in the teens. By Sunday temperatures are back to average January highs.

Saturday night into Sunday also brings our next chance for snow, however any accumulations will remain very light with most places seeing an inch or less. All of the state sees that chance for snow, although northern Minnesota has a lower possibility.

Next week

There are a couple more potential rounds of snow that currently look to bring lower accumulations, except for a storm that brings snow back in Monday night through Tuesday. That system could bring parts of the state 3 to 4 inches by Tuesday afternoon.

Much colder air also returns behind that system, especially for Wednesday into Thursday. There is still some uncertainty as to how cold we get and how long the cold lasts. However, it currently looks like at least on Thursday morning, Minnesota will be waking up to subzero temperatures, with northern parts of Minnesota possibly minus 20 or below.

Be prepared to bundle up!