Higher temps later this week; revisiting the incredible cold of January 2019

A few people have mentioned to me that they’re enjoying our mild temperatures, but the cloudy skies are annoying. I wish that I could forecast a sunny day, but that’s not in the cards right now. I expect mostly cloudy skies over the next few days, with an occasional glimpse of sun in some areas.

Temperature trends

Our average Twin Cities high temperature is 25 degrees on Jan. 28. We’ll peak right around that mark in the metro area Tuesday afternoon, and a lot of Minnesotans will see highs in the 20s, with some teens to the northwest:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the upper 20s Wednesday, followed by around 30 on Thursday, mid-30s Friday and upper 30s next weekend.

Forecast maps show much colder air spreading into Minnesota and Wisconsin Tuesday, Feb. 4, and lingering for several days. The Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a tendency toward cooler than normal temperatures in Minnesota and Wisconsin over that period:

Precipitation chances

Areas of fog, plus patchy freezing fog and freezing drizzle, are possible in Minnesota and western Wisconsin this Monday evening into early Tuesday. Some spots could see a stray snow flurry, too.

A batch of light snow is expected to move across much of west-central and southwestern Minnesota Tuesday evening into early Wednesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Tuesday evening through Wednesday morning:

The NAM model also shows some snow showers in parts of northeastern Minnesota Tuesday evening into early Wednesday.

You can hear updated weather information on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

It was incredibly cold at this time last year

You may remember the incredibly cold temperatures that we endured during the final few days of January 2019. According to the Minnesota State Climatology Office:

The arctic outbreak from January 27-31, 2019 had some of the lowest air temperatures to visit Minnesota since 1996, and the lowest wind chills since the 1980s.

Strong winds and arctic air on the heels of a feisty clipper-like snow storm brought extreme cold to Minnesota, the likes of which have not been seen in decades. The bitter cold brought some natural gas shortages just north of the metro and power outages to about 7,000 in the southern and western suburbs. Xcel Energy asked customers statewide to reduce their thermostat setting to 63 degrees. There were also broken water mains, and emergency personnel were busy with frostbite reports. Schools were closed for four days for many in the Twin Cities and outstate. The University of Minnesota was closed on the 30th and postal mail service was stopped statewide.

The Climatology Office added additional details of that arctic cold:

The -56 degrees F air temperature at Cotton 3S on January 28, 2019 was the lowest ambient air temperature in Minnesota since the -60 degrees F reading near Tower on February 2, 1996.

The -28 degrees F air temperature in the Twin Cities on January 30, 2019 was the lowest ambient air temperate in the Twin Cities since -32 degrees F on February 2, 1996.

The -13 degrees F maximum temperature in the Twin Cities on January 30, 2019 was the coldest maximum temperate since -17 degrees F on February 2, 1996.

Wind chill temperatures were also incredibly cold during the peak of that cold stretch:

The dangerously low windchill temperatures were perhaps the more noteworthy element of this cold air outbreak. The Twin Cities saw twelve hours straight of -50 degrees F or colder wind chill temperatures from 7pm on January 29 to 6am January 30, with a reading of -55F at 11pm January 29. This was the coldest wind chill reading in the Twin Cities since January 19, 1985.

A number of locations in northern Minnesota saw wind chill readings of -60 degrees F or colder including -65 degrees F at Hibbing at 8am on January 30.

January 2019 started out mild, but the final 8 days were all very cold. Low temperatures at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport were below zero the final eight days of January 2019.