Season’s coldest air, 6 sub-zero nights ahead

The weather maps look like a math teacher's dream.

A swath of negative numbers blankets Minnesota as the season's coldest air mass to date sags south from Canada. Winter came in like a lamb this year in Minnesota, but it goes out with a lion-like bite the last 3 days of 2014.

It's not sustained polar vortex driven cold, but a series of arctic fronts will get your attention with a total of six sub-zero nights the next two weeks.

Cold Canadian air mass. It's almost a cliche. What did Minnesota ever do to Canada anyway to deserve the cold shoulder? I digress.

• -18 degrees in Embarrass, Minn., this morning

• -4 degrees coldest temp at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport so far this season

• -6 degrees my forecast low temps at MSP Airport for Tuesday morning

• 2 sub-zero nights so far this winter season at MSP

• 7 sub-zero nights on average to date

• 6 sub-zero nights likely at MSP from tomorrow morning through next week

• Wind chill advisories in effect tonight for most of Minnesota

341 AM CST MON DEC 29 2014

...WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST TUESDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN HAS ISSUED A WIND CHILL ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST TUESDAY.

* WIND CHILL VALUES...25 BELOW TO 35 BELOW WITH THE COLDEST VALUES EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROSTBITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND GLOVES.

Two waves of cold

I see two distinct cold waves through next week. The first sags south through New Year's Eve with two sub-zero nights in the Twin Cities Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Temps moderate into the 20s above zero by New Year's Day.

The second arctic shot looks even colder with another four sub-zero nights next week. Temps could reach -10 to -20 degrees in parts of the metro, with -30 in northern Minnesota next week.

Mild December

The first third of meteorological winter goes in the books as the clock strikes 2015 this week. Winter came in like a lamb this year, and December will go down mild with below average snowfall across Minnesota in spite of our late month cold surge.

• +6.6 degrees - December temps vs. average so far at MSP Airport

• 5.6 inches snowfall so far in December at MSP (-5.2 inches vs. average)

• 15 inches season snowfall so far (-5.7 inches vs. average)

• 3 days at or above 50 degrees in December 2014 (Record high of 51 degrees on Dec. 15)

• Highest dew point on record so late in season (49 degrees on Dec. 15)

Minnesota's coldest year in 18 years

Despite our relatively mild December, it looks like this will go down as the coldest year in 18 years in Minnesota, since 1996.

Here's a closer look at the top 5 weather events of 2014 from the Minnesota State Climatology Office.

Warm Alaska

Meanwhile in Anchorage, Alaska, 2014 looks like to first year on record without a sub-zero temp.

Here's more on the strange weather year that is 2014 in Alaska from the Alaska Dispatch News.

With just a few days left in 2014, it’s all but certain that this year will go down in history as the first recorded calendar year that the temperature never officially dipped below zero in Anchorage, the National Weather Service said Sunday.

The last time the official temperature in Anchorage read below zero was Dec. 26, 2013, according to National Weather Service records.

Not a single day in 2014 has dipped into negative temperatures, though meteorologists did record a reading of zero degrees, the year's lowest, on Feb. 11, said NWS meteorologist Mike Ottenweller.