“Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone” wrote Christina Rossetti in her poem “In the Bleak Midwinter.”
I’m predicting a landscape of iron and stone in the coming weeks as the coldest weather since early December settles over Minnesota. If only we could get the inevitable cold without a full-frontal assault from the wind.
According to National Weather Service and Minnesota State Climatology data, the Twin Cities enjoy (wrong word) a 30-year average of 22 subzero nights each winter. But the windchill dips below zero an average of 45 to55 days, below minus 10 an average of 25 to 30 days and below minus 20 an average of 10 to 15 days. A NWS study shows 4.6% of a typical winter is spent with a windchill factor below minus 20, or about 100 hours.
I see windchills of minus 20 early next week and again the last week of January. Not record-setting, but plenty cold.
The arrival of these cold clippers will set off an inch or so Friday and again on Sunday.
My strong hunch: Snow lovers (you know who you are) will be smiling again by late January.
