-28F Air Temp & -50F Wind Chill At MSP Wednesday Morning
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Cold Here, but Not Everywhere...
Take a look at the series of images below, which shows the very large lob of Arctic air across parts of the Midwest/Northeast. While this air is significantly well below average, note how warm it is across much of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere and World. According to Climate Reanalyzer and the images below, temps in the Northern Hemisphere and World are running above average.


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Another Clipper Arrives Thursday
A weak clipper arrives on Thursday with minor snow accumulations across parts of Central and Southeastern Minnesota. The best chace of accumulations looks more likely as you get closer to the Ohio Valley and the southern Great Lakes.
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By Paul Douglas
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Extended Forecast
THURSDAY: Coating of flurries. Winds: SE 7-12. High: -1.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Light snow ends early. Winds: SE 5. Low: -4. Feels like: -20F
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy, more tolerable. Winds: S 8-13. High: 20.
SATURDAY: Peeks of sun, risk of a PM thaw. Winds:SE 8-13. Wake-up: 17. High: 33.
SUNDAY: March-like. Light rain or patchy ice. Winds: S 8-13. Wake-up: 31. High: 45.
MONDAY: Light mix ends as a little slush? Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 35. High: 40.
TUESDAY: Dry start. Wet snow arrives later. Winds: NE 10-15. Wake-up: 15. High: 28.
WEDNESDAY: Light snow tapers to flurries. Winds: NW 10-20. Wake-up: 14. High: 19.
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This Day in Weather History
January 31st
1893: The temperature drops 40 degrees in five hours during a blizzard at Park Rapids.
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Average High/Low for Minneapolis
January 31st
Average High: 25F (Record: 46F set in 2009)
Average Low: 8F (Record: -27F set in 1887)
Record Rainfall: 1.16" set in 1881
Record Snowfall: 6.2" set in 1908
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Sunrise/Sunset Times for Minneapolis
January 31st
Sunrise: 7:34am
Sunset: 5:19pm
Hours of Daylight: ~9 hours & 45minutes
Daylight GAINED since yesterday: ~ 2 minutes & 31 seconds
Daylight GAINED since winter solstice (December 21st): ~ 59 minutes
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Moon Phase for January 31st at Midnight
3.6 Days Before New Moon
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What's in the Night Sky?
According to EarthSky.org this is what will be visible in the night sky over the next several nights:
"Starting around January 30, 2019 – and through the morning of February 1 and possibly even February 2 – watch the slender waning crescent moon slide by the planets Jupiter, Venus and then Saturn. On January 30, the moon rises first, followed by Jupiter, then Venus and then Saturn. Given clear skies and an unobstructed horizon in the direction of sunrise, it’ll be easy to catch the moon, Venus and Jupiter. These worlds rank as the second-brightest, third-brightest and fourth-brightest celestial bodies to light up the heavens, respectively, after the sun. Then just keep watching. The planets and moon will still be there – and the lit side of the moon will still be pointing in the direction of Saturn – on January 31 and February 1."
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7 Day Precipitation Potential
According to NOAA's WPC, the 7 day precipitation potential shows heavier moisture across the Western part of the country, especially in California. Another round of heavier moisture looks possible across the Gulf Coast States once again.
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"Are record snowstorms proof that global warming isn’t happening?"
No. Snowstorms require two things: moisture and freezing air temperatures. There are plenty of places where winter temperatures would have to rise by 10, 20, even 30 degrees Fahrenheit before it would stop snowing. Until then, snowstorms remain quite possible, and natural climate patterns and random variability will still lead to winters that are unusually cold and snowy in different locations. One way to demonstrate that record snowstorms aren’t incompatible with a warmer climate is to look back at the historical record snowstorms and the seasonal conditions that spawned them. An analysis of such storms between 1961-2010 showed that while most extreme snow storms did occur in seasons that were colder and wetter than average, about 35 percent of snow seasons that produced extreme snow events were warmer than average, and 30 percent were drier than average. Summarizing that analysis as part of a “state of the science” review of climate change and extreme storms in 2014, a group of scientists concluded: even if temperatures continue to warm as they have over the past several decades for the next few decades at least, then such record storms are possible, as they have been observed during otherwise warmer- and drier-than average seasons."
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"Scientists Solve the Mystery of Why the Northern and Southern Lights Don't Match"
"A leading explanation for the different patterns seen in Earth’s northern and southern auroras has been ruled out. Earth’s auroras, which colorfully illuminate the skies at high latitudes, are among the most spectacular phenomena on the planet. These radiant light shows are also filled with mysteries, including odd asymmetries between the patterns of Northern and Southern lights, first noticed by scientists in 2009. After ten years of puzzling over this unexpected imbalance between polar auroras, researchers led by Anders Ohma, a graduate student at the University of Bergen in Norway, think the answer could be the tilted pressure that the solar wind exerts on Earth’s magnetic field."
See more from Motherboard HERE:
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Thanks for checking in and don't forget to follow me on Twitter @TNelsonWX

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