Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

First subzero air mass of the season ahead this week

Temps will reach minus 20 in NW Minnesota; cold snap won't last long

Temperature forecast
Temperature forecast for 6 a.m. Thursday
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, via Pivotal Weather

Well, I hope you enjoyed our relatively balmy weekend.

With high temperatures of 52 degrees on Saturday and 43 degrees on Sunday, life in the Twin Cities felt way more November than December.

Now the dreaded Minnesota hunch returns this week. You know, that walk when you’re all bent over with hunched shoulders racing to get out of the wind chill?

Our first cold front brought chilly northwest winds Monday after topping out at 41 degrees around midday. On the chart below, you can see how temperatures crashed Monday afternoon.

Temperatures Monday afternoon
Temperatures Monday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Aviation Administration

Tuesday brings mixed sun and lighter winds with highs in the teens to 20s across Minnesota.

Forecast high temperatures Tuesday
Forecast high temperatures Tuesday
NOAA

Arctic blast arrives Wednesday

The season’s coldest air mass so far will blow into Minnesota Tuesday night into Wednesday.

On the map below, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the system pushing bands of light snow along the brisk northwest flow in the frontal zone early Wednesday.

NOAA GFS model
Global Forecast System model between 6 p.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Thursday
NOAA, via Tropical Tidbits

Much of Minnesota will get a dusting of snow by Thursday morning.

Snowfall projection for Minnesota
Snowfall projection for Minnesota by Thursday morning
NOAA

Temperatures with this air mass will bottom out Thursday morning with lows in the minus 20s northwest with single digits below zero in the south.

Forecast low temperatures Thursday morning
Forecast low temperatures Thursday morning
NOAA

The coldest temperature so far this season at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was 6 degrees above zero, occurring on Dec. 1, Dec. 4, and Dec. 5.

The cold snap will not last long. Highs in the 30s return for the upcoming weekend.