Excessive heat watch in effect through Sunday

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I like that title from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources State Climatology Office describing 

I was born in Minnesota and have lived here most of my life. I remember those eye-watering winters of the 1970s that seemed to go on forever. I remember riding the bus to school with giant snow piles on the side of the roads in March when it was our snowiest month of the year. 

And I remember people like my future mentor WCCO-TV weatherman Bud Kraehling telling us about the January thaw. When it finally arrived, it felt like we were living in the banana belt. 

In our current winter context, January thaws have become commonplace. 

If we manage two consecutive days above 32 degrees on Thursday and Friday, it will be our 14th straight year with a January thaw in the Twin Cities. That’s a pretty strong streak when you consider that 2 of every 10 years historically don’t feature a January thaw.  

The Minnesota State Climatology Office notes:

We bottomed out at minus 9 degrees at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Tuesday morning. That’s the coldest temperature observed so far this winter. We hit minus 7 degrees on Dec. 12, 2024.

Highs recover into the 20s to 30s Wednesday across most of Minnesota.

Highs in the 30s will be common on Thursday. Friday likely delivers the warmest day of the month so far for southern Minnesota with highs near 40 degrees for locations like Rochester. 

Enjoy the thaw. I wrote earlier Tuesday about our 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

If it gets above freezing in the Twin Cities Thursday and Friday it will be our 14th consecutive year with a January thaw. 

14th straight January thaw on the way for the Twin Cities?

Go Deeper.

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