Coldest week of winter gives way to milder air by Sunday

This may be one of the shorter winters on record in Minnesota.

After our record-warm December, the Twin Cities has only been below the freezing mark for 9 days since Jan. 6. And though our current cold snap is bracing, it’s not anywhere near the frequent and prolonged bitter -20 temperature streaks we typically saw in the winters of the 1970s.

The coldest period of winter in Minnesota has warmed almost 6 degrees on average since 1970.

This 3rd week of January is typically the coldest week of winter on average in Minnesota. The normal high and low this week are 23 and 8 degrees. That’s the lowest normal high and low temperatures of the year for the Twin Cities.

So far this season, the Twin Cities has bottomed out at -8 degrees both Sunday and Monday mornings. If that ends up being the coldest temperature of winter in the Twin Cities it will continue the trend of less extreme winter temperatures.

Our respectably cold air mass lingers this week across Minnesota. Temperatures will moderate by just a few degrees with highs in the single digits above zero most of this week.

Overnight lows will still hover below zero through Friday in most areas.

A few occasional snow showers will cross Minnesota this week. But no major storms are on the maps as of Monday.

Pacific warm front ahead

Forecast models agree on a gush of much milder Pacific air by early next week. Check out the change in the upper air flow forecast between Friday and Sunday. Note the blue dip over our region being replaced by a warmer-colored high-pressure ridge and Pacific flow aloft.

Temperatures by next Monday should crack the thawing point across much of southern Minnesota. Here’s the European model temperature output for next Monday at noon.

So our January cold snap looks to fade starting Sunday. NOAA’s outlooks favor milder-than-average temperatures for the last 2 weeks of January.

It appears our Super El Niño winter is about to revert to the balmy mean.

Stay tuned.