Expect 15-20 below in Twin Cities, southern Minnesota Wednesday morning

Bundle up, Twin Cities. This could be the coldest night of winter, so far.

Overnight low temperatures in the minus 20s are likely across parts of Wisconsin and eastern Iowa early Wednesday. Temperatures in the Twin Cities and much of southern Minnesota will dip into the range of 15 to 20 below zero.

Temperatures in northern Minnesota will be several degrees less cold than in the south. That’s because the core of the coldest air is getting pushed southward as an air mass with above-zero temperatures slides through southern Canada and North Dakota toward Minnesota.

For the Twin Cities area, lows will be in the teens below zero in the inner Twin Cities core. Lows will likely reach minus 20 in the suburbs and most of central and southern Minnesota.

The coldest night so far this winter was on Jan. 7 when the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bottomed out at minus 17 degrees.

Temperatures moderate Wednesday

A milder air mass will quickly slide into Minnesota Wednesday afternoon. Temperatures will recover into the 20s above zero, with 30 degrees along the Minnesota-Dakotas border.

We’ll get one more brief arctic swipe Thursday night into Friday, with subzero lows again.

Temperatures moderate again this weekend with highs in the 20s across much of Minnesota with teens northeast.

By Monday, a milder air mass will push temperatures into the 30s across a bigger chunk of Minnesota.

Note the 40s and 50s again across Nebraska and Kansas, where winter is having a hard time sticking around this year:

I am tempted to say Wednesday morning could be the coldest of the year for the Twin Cities, but that may be premature. The medium-range forecast models suggest a couple more swipes of arctic air in early February that could rival our current subzero air mass.

Stay tuned.