Bundle up: Frigid cold for the next 48 hours
Chance of snow, rain showers Saturday
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We’re in the grip of an arctic air outbreak for Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures will warm up dramatically for the weekend with another chance at snow showers Saturday.
Arctic air, then a weekend warmup
It’s cold and it’s going to get colder. Cold weather advisories are posted for northern Minnesota through early Thursday. We’ll have some lingering flurries and light snow showers Wednesday morning. Temperatures will fall through the day Wednesday.
By midafternoon, most will be in the single digits or below zero.
Winds will be the nagging issue, blowing from the northwest at 10 to 25 mph. That will create some brutal wind chills Wednesday and Thursday. The coldest wind chills will be overnight Wednesday into early Thursday.
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Actual air temperatures Wednesday night will dip into subzero territory across the state with readings as cold as 20 below zero or colder in northwestern Minnesota. These are easily the coldest readings this season, so far.
High temperatures Thursday will not get out of the single digits in southern Minnesota and will remain below zero all day in northern Minnesota.
We’re in for a pretty quick warmup, though, with temperatures near 20 degrees returning for southern Minnesota Friday.
We’re watching a system that could bring a wintry mix, but primarily snow, to southern Minnesota Friday night into Saturday.
There’s still a spread in the models in terms of amounts and placement, but anywhere from a slushy coating to a few inches is possible from across southern Minnesota into potentially the Twin Cities and western Wisconsin.
That system will be riding the storm track as warmer air pushes back into the region. We’ll replace the arctic chill with anomalous warmth again for the weekend.
High temps will likely be above freezing both Sunday and Monday for the southern half of Minnesota.
Some forecast models then produce another storm system early next week with rain and snow potentially developing Sunday night into Monday and Monday night.
There’s a very wide range of possibilities with that system right now. The most hopeful for snow is the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model:
