Excessive heat watch in effect through Sunday

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Get ready for the most dramatic temperature swing of winter in Minnesota.

Our well-advertised January thaw arrived Wednesday afternoon in western Minnesota, where  temperatures hit 39 degrees in Madison. I saw 38 degrees in Granite Falls, Canby, and Marshall. 

You can see temperatures in the 40s in the Dakotas on the national temperature map above. And check out the air mass transition as temperatures soared in the Twin Cities Wednesday: 

Temperatures will be steady to slowly rising into the 30s as our Pacific air mass blows in Wednesday night. Highs Thursday will reach the 30s across much of Minnesota.

Friday brings the warmest day of our 2024 January thaw. Highs will reach well into the 30s to around 40 degrees in the south. 

Our late-week thaw is not long for Minnesota. A swiftly moving arctic front will slam through Minnesota Friday night. 

On the map below, watch as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System temperature output model slams subzero air into Minnesota From Saturday night into Tuesday morning. 

Temperatures with this arctic outbreak will reach minus 10 to minus 15 around the Twin Cities. It will plunge to minus 20s to around minus 30 degrees in the coldest nooks of the north.

The coldest morning will likely be Monday. Temperatures may approach minus 15 degrees in the Twin Cities:

We’re almost certain to blow past the coldest temperature so far in the Twin Cities this winter of minus 9 degrees Tuesday morning. We’re not done with subzero cold in Minnesota after next week, but it could be the coldest air mass of winter. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Get ready for a wild temperature roller coaster ride over the next week.

A January thaw, then winter's coldest air mass early next week?

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