Fresh breezes will clean the air; January thaw this weekend
Brisk northwest winds pick up Wednesday night, Thursday
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Updated 2:57 p.m.
Fresh breezes will finally blow better air quality into Minnesota Wednesday night and Thursday.
A cold front will blow in brisk northwest winds. This will effectively scour out the stagnant, gunky atmosphere that’s been producing some of the worst winter air quality on record for the Twin Cities and southeastern Minnesota.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model 10-meter wind product shows the trend toward a freshening northwest wind flow across Minnesota between noon Wednesday and noon Thursday.
Our inbound air mass is not super arctic, but it will be noticeably colder. Highs Thursday will hover in the teens in western Minnesota and lower 20s in the Twin Cities and the east.
January thaw this weekend
Our much celebrated January thaw looks likely this weekend. A southwest breeze will pump in milder air starting on Saturday with highs well into the 30s. Sunday looks like the warmest day right now. Highs could reach 40 degrees across southern Minnesota including the Twin Cities.
So far January is running 4 degrees warmer than average in the Twin Cities.
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