Dangerous Wind Chills Continue But Sunday Will Be Slightly Warmer

What a cold start to the new year across the region! Air temperatures dipped to -10F here in the Twin Cities Saturday morning, with the coldest wind chill at MSP being -30F. The coldest wind chill I could find was 1E St. Vincent (MNDOT sensor) at -59F, with the coldest low being 0.5E Shooks at -41F (also a MNDOT sensor) - this information is provided by the NWS in Grand Forks.

Meanwhile, was the high below zero today? Not quite...

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As we head toward Sunday morning, it'll be even colder in the Twin Cities than what we saw Saturday morning as skies clear out allowing those air temperatures to drop to around -15F. -20s will be common as you head into central and northern Minnesota to start the day.

And when you factor in the wind, it'll feel even colder. Morning wind chills are expected to be between -25F and -30F in the Twin Cities, but in the -40s as you head toward northwestern Minnesota. Another round of Wind Chill Advisories and Wind Chill Warnings are in place through Sunday morning.

The good news is that most areas of the state should be able to dig themselves out of the negatives into the positive range during the afternoon hours Sunday... even if just barely. The warmest highs will be found as you head toward southwestern Minnesota, where places like Marshall should climb into the teens (above zero!).

Here in the Twin Cities, we'll climb to a high of +4F during the afternoon hours Sunday - likely in either the mid or late afternoon timeframe. Temperatures, however, will stay below zero for much of the day after starting off in those mid-teens below zero.

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A two-day warm-up is in our future as we head toward Monday and Tuesday with highs in the upper 20s to low 30s - a few degrees above average! It doesn't last, though, as another surge of arctic air is expected as we head toward the middle and end of the week. Highs on Thursday could once again struggle to make it above zero. The only real chance of snow in the forecast will be Tuesday Night/early Wednesday ahead of that next batch of cold air working in.

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As we look at the month of December in the Twin Cities, we had positives across the board! The average temperature was 2.5F degrees above average, tied for the 34th warmest December on record. It was tied for the 18th wettest December on record with 1.95" of rain/melted snow. Meanwhile, it'll go down as the 9th snowiest December on record with 21.5" of snow.

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Meanwhile, we ended the year with only 25.96" of precipitation (rain or melted snow) in the Twin Cities, which was 5.66" below average and the 59th driest year on record. That, of course, came after the 56th wettest last year (29.83") and the wettest in 2019 (43.17"). As you can see by the map above, all of the climate sites across the state ended up below average last year.

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Advantages of Polar Chill?
By Paul Douglas

It's not a bug, it's a feature! Cold = bad? Not so fast. When it get this cold the crime rate goes down and your garbage doesn't stink.

Think of the benefits of negative numbers. No yardwork. Bugs are temporarily extinct (except for a few zombie Box Elder bugs still crawling around our house). No picking ticks off your dog. No tornadoes. I could go on, but I've made my point, however tenuous.

After a Nanook start temperatures climb above 0F today. Low 30s Tuesday will feel like a (bad) vacation. 1-2" snow may fall Wednesday ahead of the next arctic smack, and I see a brush with the Polar Vortex through mid-January. The coldest weather of the winter may come this month, not February. Fresh air!

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SUNDAY: Brittle sunshine. Wake up -17. High 6. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind SW 5-10 mph.

MONDAY: Partly sunny, getting better. Wake up 5. High 28. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 7-12 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Colder wind, 1-2" snow possible. Wake up 6. High 10. Chance of precipitation 70%. Wind NW 15-30 mph.

THURSDAY: Sunny, comfortably numb. WC: -30. Wake up -14. High -6. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NW 10-15 mph.

FRIDAY: Yukon daydreams. Blue sky, nippy. Wake up -20. High 5. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind S 7-12 mph.

SATURDAY: Few flurries, not as harsh. Wake up 3. High 24. Chance of precipitation 30%. Wind S 10-20 mph.

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*Length Of Day: 8 hours, 52 minutes, and 2 seconds
*Daylight GAINED Since Yesterday: 55 seconds

*When Do We See 9 Hours Of Daylight: January 9th (9 hours, 0 minutes, 29 seconds)
*Latest Sunrises Before We Start Gaining Morning Light: 7:51 AM between December 30th and January 5th
*Next Sunset At/After 5 PM: January 17th (5:00 PM)

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This Day in Weather History
January 2nd

1941: Grand Portage gets over 4.5 inches of precipitation in 24 hours. That's roughly how much normally falls there during the 'winter' months from November to February.

The system responsible for heavy snow and rain, icing, and severe weather from the central U.S. to the Deep South Saturday will continue to move east on Sunday, bringing a range of weather from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast on Sunday. A new system in the Pacific Northwest will bring rain and snow.

With that new system out west, several feet of snow will be possible in the Cascades with heavy rain (3"+) along portions of the Washington and Oregon coasts. Snow and heavy rain across the central U.S. will have mainly fallen on Saturday, but you can see an area of heavy rain to end the weekend across North Carolina.

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The how and why behind Colorado's devastating wildfires on Thursday

More from 9NEWS: "The date Dec. 30, 2021 will likely be forever etched into Coloradans' collective memories for a historic and devastating wildfire just hours before the start of the new year. Thursday saw a massive suburban wildfire in the heart of winter, just hours before the start of a new year. It's not something anyone would've thought possible, considering the typically cold and snow-covered time of year. But starting late Thursday morning, plumes of smoke covered the skies of the Denver and Boulder areas as huge grass fires exploded across Superior and Louisville, whipped and fanned by 100+ mph winds. There are a lot of reasons why huge fires engulfed Superior and Louisville neighborhoods just a few days after Christmas. But it all starts and ends with a prolonged drought that followed an exceptionally wet and snowy spring."

More from Nature: "Energized by this year's COP26 summit in Glasgow, UK, delegates from around the world will converge on Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022 for COP27, another round of United Nations climate talks. Countries are expected to come up with climate commitments consistent with the 2015 Paris agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 ˚C above pre-industrial temperatures. In the meantime, researchers will be monitoring greenhouse-gas emissions following pledges made at COP26 — which included promises to reduce the use of coal and cut methane emissions. After a pandemic-induced dip in 2020, carbon emissions have rebounded in 2021."

EarthSky's meteor shower guide for 2022

More from EarthSky: "In 2022, watch for the Quadrantids after midnight and before dawn on January 3. The moon will be new, making for great meteor-observing conditions. The Quadrantids can produce over 100 meteors per hour in a moonless sky, and this year is such a time. This is great, because the narrow peak of this shower lasts only about six hours, although the range of Quarantid meteor activity is from December 26, 2021, to January 16, 2022. The radiant point is in the part of the sky that used to be considered the constellation Quadrans Muralis, the Mural Quadrant. The radiant is near the famous Big Dipper asterism (see chart here). In January, it's in the north-northeastern sky after midnight and highest up before dawn. Because the radiant is fairly far to the north on the sky's dome, meteor numbers tend to be greater at northerly latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere."

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Thanks for checking in and have a great day! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (@dkayserwx) and like me on Facebook (Meteorologist D.J. Kayser).