Very windy Friday and briefly colder for Saturday
Mild air returns quickly by Sunday and Monday
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Winds will howl through the day Friday as briefly colder air slides in behind the disturbance that brought snow to northern Minnesota. Mild air will return Sunday.
Windy, briefly colder before warming again
In the wake of the system that brought overnight snow to northeastern Minnesota, winds are howling across the state Friday. Sustained wind speeds will be 15 to 30 mph with gusts as high as 40 to 50 mph from the northwest.
A 55 mph gust at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was the highest wind speed measured there since a 60-mph gust on Aug. 27.
Wind advisories and high wind warnings are posted for portions of western and northern Minnesota Friday.
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The strong winds are making it a busy day for utility crews across Minnesota.
On Friday morning, Minnesota Power reported an outage affecting more than 1,000 customers southeast of Cloquet. Another outage affected nearly 300 homes and businesses near Eveleth on the Iron Range. In both cases, the utility said the outages were caused by downed trees.
Lake Country Power also reported outages affecting several hundred customers in northeastern Minnesota on Friday, with other utilities reporting scattered outages across the state.
All the wind is being kicked up by a strong pressure gradient as a chunk of cold air moves in for just about 36 hours, but temperatures will rebound quickly by Sunday again.
Winter storm warnings persist for Lake and Cook counties in northeastern Minnesota through noon Friday. Additional snowfall of up to 1 or 2 inches is possible.
Temperatures will fall from the 40s into the 30s in southern Minnesota and from the 30s into the teens and 20s in northern Minnesota by Friday evening.
Cold air will briefly settle in for Friday night through Saturday. Overnight lows Friday night will drop below zero in northern Minnesota with teens south.
Highs Saturday will be slightly below normal, near 30 south to just the upper 10s north. We’ll have bright sunshine also.
By Sunday it’s back to mild weather with partly cloudy skies and highs in the 40s and low 50s for southern Minnesota and 30s north.
Monday will be even warmer with highs in the 50s to near 60 in southern Minnesota.
We’re also watching a potential storm system that could bring rain and snow to the region Tuesday into Wednesday.
Right now, most forecast models favor southeastern Minnesota into Iowa and Wisconsin for snowfall Tuesday night into Wednesday with rain mostly for areas of central Minnesota.
