Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Blizzard conditions continue for many Friday along with dangerous wind chills

Blowing snow and wind chills of 30 to 40 below zero Friday morning

hazards update
Blizzard warnings for many areas through early Saturday
NOAA via pivotal weather

Updated 11:10 a.m. Friday

Sustained high winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts of 40 to 50 mph will continue to create white-out conditions in many areas along with dangerously cold wind chills in the 20s and 30s to near 40 below zero into Friday.

High winds continue to create blizzard conditions

Wind gusts have been pretty high so far in southwest Minnesota and along the North Shore. Generally, gusts have been between 40 and 50 mph in southwest Minnesota but Grand Marais has seen gusts as high as 74 mph measured at 10 a.m. Friday morning!

gusts pivotal
Wind gust analysis mid morning Friday
NOAA via pivotal weather

The Duluth National Weather Service says that’s the second highest recorded wind gust ever at Grand Marais.

Gusty northwest winds will continue to blow snow around Minnesota and western Wisconsin Friday, creating greatly reduced visibilities and treacherous travel conditions.

fri gust PM
Forecast wind gusts Friday
National Weather Service

Blizzard warnings remain in effect for much of southern and southwest Minnesota into southwest Wisconsin through Friday night. Forecast wind gusts will remain high into early Saturday.

Fri gusts 9a-8p
Forecast wind gusts through 8 p.m. Friday
College of DuPage Weather

The bitter cold and wind are creating dangerously cold wind chills. Morning wind chills will remain between 25 and 45 degrees below zero. Exposed skin freezes in just minutes.

fri chills PM
Forecast wind chills Friday
National Weather Service

Temperature remain very cold, well below zero. High temperatures will remain below zero for most of Minnesota Friday afternoon.

fri highs PM
Forecast high temperatures Friday
National Weather Service

Wind gusts should decrease through Saturday and finally be calmer for Sunday across the region.

wind gusts sat-sun
Forecast wind gusts 4 a.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Sunday
College of DuPage Weather

Northeastern Minnesota will see some additional snowfall Friday into the weekend:

NE MN snow
Additional forecast snowfall Friday into the weekend
National Weather Service

After a cold weekend, a much warmer pattern develops

Low temperatures Friday night will again be bitterly and dangerously cold, well below zero.

Sat low
Forecast low temperatures Friday night into early Saturday
National Weather Service

Saturday will remain very cold but winds will start to lighten up some.

sat winds
Forecast sustained wind speeds late Saturday afternoon
National Weather Service

High temperatures Saturday afternoon will be mainly in the single digits above zero in eastern Minnesota but remain subzero in western Minnesota.

sat high PM
Forecast high temperatures Saturday
National Weather Service

Christmas Day Sunday will still be pretty cold to start but with much lighter winds, generally under 10 mph, with sunshine and highs will be above zero nearly statewide.

sun high PM
Forecast high temperatures Christmas Day / Sunday
National Weather Service

A clipper system will bring yet more snow Sunday evening into Sunday night across a swath of Minnesota.

SUN NT precip
Forecast precipitation 9 a.m. Sunday through 9 a.m. Monday
College of DuPage Weather

We’re likely set to receive more accumulations of anywhere from 1 to 4 inches across central and southern Minnesota Sunday night.

sun night snowfall
Forecast snowfall from four different computer model scenarios
NOAA via pivotal weather

After the weekend, the Siberian/arctic air departs and things warm up pretty quickly. We should see highs above 30 degrees Wednesday afternoon in southern Minnesota.

wed-thu highs
Forecast high temperatures by Wednesday and Thursday next week
NOAA via pivotal weather

The 6 to 10 day outlook from the Climate Predication Center calls for above normal temperatures!

6-10 day
6-10 day temperature outlook
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center