Quiet Weather Weekend - Getting Cold In Time For Christmas

It's still hard to find snow on the ground across most of the state as we head into the weekend before Christmas, though odds are a bit higher as you head into northern Minnesota. Some areas along portions of the C.J. Ramstad/North Shore State Trail are reporting a snow depth up to 5", but there isn't enough yet to pack. Across some of the state parks in northern Minnesota:

You can find out more information from the Minnesota DNR on snow depth and trail conditions by clicking here.

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We should see a fairly quiet weekend here in the Twin Cities. Skies will start cloudy Saturday, quickly becoming sunny by the midday hours with highs only topping off in the upper 20s. Sunny skies stick around on Sunday with warmer weather as highs climb into the mid-30s.

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Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Have you heard about heard talk about the "Christmas Star"? How about the "Great Conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn? They are one in the same! Jupiter and Saturn have been coming closer to each other over the past few weeks in the night sky, and coming up Monday they will be the closest they've been to each other in the sky in nearly 400 years - just a tenth of a degree apart from each other! Of course, it only looks that way in the sky... don't worry, they're still hundreds of millions of miles apart in space - they aren't going to collide with each other! You can read more about this from NASA. To see this, you'll want to be looking low in the southwestern sky after sunset. You'll want to make sure you catch this early in the evening, as the planets will set around 6:56 PM according to Time and Date.

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Behind an arctic cold front which will bring the chance of some snow Wednesday, we will see the coldest air of the season so far move in for Christmas Eve Thursday. Highs across northern Minnesota may barely make it above zero, with temperatures struggling to the teens in portions of southern Minnesota.

The good news is temperatures look slightly warmer as we head toward Christmas Day next Friday. Portions of northern Minnesota may only reach the single digits once again, though.

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A Decorative Christmas Coating Possible
By Paul Douglas

My Doppler is listed on Facebook Marketplace since it's not getting much use these days. According to the Twin Cities National Weather Service, mid-November thru mid-December was 4th driest on record. Most climate models show a continuation of a mild/dry signal much of the winter but spasms of cold and snow are inevitable.

Exhibit A: the mercury may hit 40F on a few days next week (10-20F degrees above average) before a glancing blow of arctic air arrives for Christmas. Daytime highs on December 25 may hold in single digits, but any prickly-pain will be brief. I see a few more 30s between Christmas and the New Year.

A white Christmas? Wednesday snow will fall heaviest on Wisconsin, but MSP may pick up a couple inches. Hoping Santa brings me a better Doppler.

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Paul's Extended Twin Cities Forecast

SUNDAY: Sunny start, a few flakes late. Wake up 25. High 39. Chance of precipitation 50%. Wind W 7-12 mph.

MONDAY: Clouds, windy with snow showers. Wake up 31. High 37. Chance of precipitation 40%. Wind NW 15-25 mph.

TUESDAY: Some sun, breezy. Mildest day. Wake up 27. High 42. Chance of precipitation 20%. Wind S 10-20 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Couple inches of slush possible. Wake up 22. High 31. Chance of precipitation 60%. Wind NW 15-35 mph.

THURSDAY: Sunny. Feels like 20 below. Wake up 0. High 9. Chance of precipitation 10%. Wind NW 15-25 mph.

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This Day in Weather History
December 19th

1983: Record lows are set across central Minnesota with temperatures ranging from fifty degrees below zero to the upper twenties below zero. Mora set their record with a low of 52 below, with 42 below at Little Falls, 41 below at Jordan, St. Cloud, and Cambridge, and 39 below at Long Prairie, Milaca, and Stillwater.

1923: Unseasonably mild temperatures occur in Minnesota. Temperatures climb into the 60s at New Ulm.

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Average High: 26F (Record: 52F set in 1923)
Average Low: 11F (Record: -29F set in 1983)
Average Precipitation: 0.03" (Record: 0.51" set in 1968)
Average Snowfall: 0.4" (Record: 6.4" in 1951)
Record Snow Depth: 18" in 1983

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Sunrise/Sunset Times for Minneapolis
December 19th

Sunrise: 7:47 AM
Sunset: 4:33 PM

*Length Of Day: 8 hours, 46 minutes and 18 seconds
*Daylight LOST Since Yesterday: ~0 minutes and 10 seconds

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We'll see a mostly cloudy start Saturday, but skies will become mainly sunny by the afternoon. Morning lows will be in the low 20s with temperatures only climbing to the upper 20s in the afternoon.

Clouds will be on the decrease during the morning hours across eastern Minnesota, with clouds starting to increase in western Minnesota late in the day. Otherwise, mainly sunny skies are expected. Highs will climb into the 20s across most of the state, with a few 30s possible in southern Minnesota.

Highs will be a few degrees above average across most of the state Saturday - up to 10F degrees in western Minnesota. The average high for December 19th in the Twin Cities is 26F.

We will see warming temperatures as we head into early next week, with highs around 40F Monday and Tuesday. An arctic front will start to move through Wednesday, dropping temperatures into the 20s for highs on Wednesday and even colder for the end of the week.

As an area of low pressure and associated cold front moves east Saturday, showers and thunderstorms will be possible from the mid-Mississippi Valley to the Gulf Coast and Southeast. Rain and snow to all snow will be possible in the eastern Great Lakes into the Ohio River Valley and Appalachians. Rain and snow will be possible in the Northwest.

Some of the mountains up in the Pacific Northwest could pick up 3-5" of rain through the weekend as the snow level lifts to around 6,500 feet. Up at the highest elevations, though, several feet of snow could fall in the Cascades. Meanwhile, up to a couple inches of snow could fall in the Northeast - a far cry from the feet of snow some areas picked up Wednesday and Thursday.

And boy did a lot of snow fall across portions of the Northeast Wednesday into Thursday. The top totals across the region were over 40" across portions of four states! I think this snow will be sticking around for a while...

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Fierce Cyclone Yasa strikes Fiji as one of the country's most powerful storms

Michael Regan, Biden's E.P.A. Pick, Faces 'Massive Reconstruction and Rebuilding'

More from the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has selected Michael S. Regan, North Carolina's top environmental regulator, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Biden's transition team announced Thursday. The decision elevates for the first time a Black man to lead the powerful department, which is central to achieving the new administration's climate change agenda. Mr. Regan was not the president-elect's first choice, and he lacks some of the political star power of Mr. Biden's other cabinet picks. But he will be on the front lines of the incoming administration's effort to undo one of President Trump's most sprawling transformations of the federal government: the unraveling of a half-century of pollution and climate regulations, and the diminishment of the science that underpinned them."

Global warming is real, so why is it cold outside?

More from Yale Climate Connections: "The occurrence of record-cold weather can seem puzzling during an era of global warming. After all, given that the world is getting warmer, how can it also be colder than usual in your backyard? Temperature records show that the Earth has warmed a little more than 1 degree Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1880. Yet short-term variations in weather, such as cold snaps — rapid drops in air temperature that result in consecutive days of colder-than-average weather — are still occurring."

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- D.J. Kayser