Bitterly Cold & Sunny Monday - Temps Moderate Toward Mid-Week

Monday will be one of those misleading days as you look outside - yes, it'll be sunny, but it'll be bitterly cold! After dipping into the teens below zero overnight in the metro, highs will struggle to make it back above zero. Once you factor in westerly 5-10 mph winds, it'll feel more like the teens and 20s below zero.

Negative teens and 20s is what we'll wake up to across the state Monday morning, but once you factor in the wind it'll feel more like the -40s up in parts of northern Minnesota. Wind Chill Advisories and Wind Chill Warnings remain in place.

The good news: we'll have sunshine Monday! The bad news: it'll be a cold last Monday of January, with highs barely making it above zero in the southern half of the state, and likely not even having that chance up north.

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While we will remain below average this week in the metro, after Monday it won't be "as cold" as highs tend to moderate back into the teens. The only exception might be Friday when some models have us cooling back into the single digits for one day. Quiet weather is expected this week, minus some occasional flurries or light snow showers in northern Minnesota at times later in the week.

Both Monday and Tuesday morning should see wind chills down in the -20s here in the metro - those two mornings will also be the coldest of the week. As temperatures moderate some toward the middle of the week, and lows aren't as cold, morning wind chills won't be as cold either.

The good news is that the cold weather doesn't last! While there are some differences in how chilly Friday might be (as mentioned above), what does appear to be certain is more of a warm-up into the weekend and early next week with the 20s and even 30s returning.

One Of The Colder Weeks of Winter This Week
By Paul Douglas

Indelicate question: have we become soft? Asking for a friend. I don't have the answer but I have my suspicions. All these marvelous inventions to keep the cold out? Weather updates every 90 seconds - heated car seats and steering wheels. Fort Snelling pioneers who survived consistently harsher winters in the 1830s might be perplexed by references of a Polar Vortex.

Counterintuitively, as the planet continues to warm, expectations change. "Hey, I didn't know it could still get THAT cold!" According to Climate Central, the coldest average winter temperatures in the Twin Cities have warmed 12.1F since 1970, from -26F to -14F. It still gets cold, just not as cold, and for not nearly as long.

This will be one of the colder weeks of winter, but not even close to record-setting or historic. A puff of Pacific air may spark 20s, even a few low 30s by early next week. The pattern doesn't favor significant snow anytime soon.

Groundhog Day is Thursday and he WILL see his shadow. 6 more weeks of winter? A smart bet.

Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

MONDAY: Numbing. Feels like -25F. Wake up -10. High 3. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind W 10-15 mph.

TUESDAY: Partly sunny and chilly. Wake up -6. High 12. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind SW 8-13 mph.

WEDNESDAY: More clouds, closer to "average". Wake up 3. High 21. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 5-10 mph.

THURSDAY: Another shot. Colder winds. Wake up 11. High 14. Chance of precipitation 0%. Wind NW 15-25 mph.

SATURDAY: More clouds, more tolerable. Wake up 4. High 25. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind S 10-20 mph.

SUNDAY: Peeks of sun, feels better. Wake up 17. High 28. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind W 8-13 mph.

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Minneapolis Weather Almanac And Sun Data
January 30th

*Length Of Day: 9 hours, 42 minutes, and 48 seconds
*Daylight GAINED Since Yesterday: 2 minutes and 29 seconds

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This Day in Weather History
January 30th

1994: Duluth has a record low of -35.

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Behind a cold front all the way into the Southern Plains, we will be tracking the potential of icing (freezing rain and sleet) and mixed precipitation from parts of central Texas to the Northeast. In the warm sector closer to the Gulf Coast, storms will be likely. Another area of low pressure will bring rain and higher-elevation snow from southern California to the Rockies. Snow will also fall across parts of the Great Lakes into New England.

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The Supreme Court could end protections for some wetlands, threatening water and wildlife

More from Northern Public Radio: "In addition to providing safe resting grounds for wildlife, wetlands serve as natural water filters, and can also reduce flooding during major rain events by giving water a place to sit and soak in. But an ongoing U.S. Supreme Court case, Sackett v. EPA, could roll back the federal government's authority to regulate wetlands and potentially trim their protections altogether. That worries conservationists such as Blodgett, who says Illinois has lost 90% of the state's original wetlands. Many other Midwestern state's have lost over 50%, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

Sea Level Rise Will Lead To Faster-Than-Expected Flooding On The Coasts

More from Forbes: "One of the most well-known impacts of climate change is rising sea levels, and already coastal areas have started making plans to handle the flooding that will come with rising ocean waters. But new research published this week finds that those plans might need to accelerate, as the scientists behind it found that the flooding impacts of increased sea levels are likely to happen faster than previously thought. Not because of any change in carbon emissions, but because of better technologies. In decades past, researchers used radar to determine coastal elevations, which were then plugged into flooding models. But the problem, these researchers found, is that radar can't always tell the difference between plants and the ground. Advances in lidar, however, don't have that issue, enabling more accurate measurements. With those measurements, the study suggests that coastal flooding will happen sooner than previously anticipated, meaning that governments in those regions have shorter deadlines to work with in order to deal with potentially catastrophic climate impacts."

More from High Country News: "Last summer, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observed dust blowing 85 miles from its source, Lake Abert and Summer Lake, two dried-up saline lakes in southern Oregon. This has happened before: Saline lakebeds are some of the West's most significant sources of dust. California's Owens Lake is the nation's largest source of PM10, the tiny pollutants found in dust and smoke, while plumes blowing off the 800 square miles of the Great Salt Lake's exposed bed have caused toxin-filled dust storms in Salt Lake City."

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- D.J. Kayser