MONDAY: Breezy with single digit above and below zero wind chills. Coldest day in sight with icy sunshine through the afternoon. High: 17. Winds: Northwest 10-20mph
MONDAY NIGHT: Winds ease, but temperatures fall. Quite cold overnight. Low: 2. Winds: NW 5-10mph becoming calm.
TUESDAY: Cold and sunny start. More PM clouds with a little light snow up north late. High: 27. Winds: SSW 5-15mph
WEDNESDAY: Mild January sunshine. A chance to thaw out. Low: 16. High: 32. WNW 5-10mph
THURSDAY: Even warmer, feels like March again. Low: 16. High: 35. Winds: SSW 5-15mph
FRIDAY: Unseasonably mild ahead of an approaching clipper. More PM clouds, especially across far northern Minnesota. Breezy. Low: 25. High:40. Winds: Turning W 15-25mph
SATURDAY: Partly sunny and colder with a few passing flakes. Low: 20. High: 27
SUNDAY: Mix of clouds and sun, feels like January again. Low: 9. High: 19
Frosty Friends Helping to Ring in the New Year
Thanks to Tony Perkins for this picture - quite a snowman you got there!
Now that 'normal' winter weather has returned, how are you handling it? Those with the wintry itch, headed outdoors in droves Sunday to enjoy the little bit of snow that we picked up over the weekend. I have to admit, it sure is pretty to look at and I was much happier enjoying the scene from indoors rather than being bothered by those icy winds.
Brave souls heading outdoors today will have to dawn the heavy winter artillery as wind chills dip into the single digits above and below zero. It's nothing that we haven't had to endure before, but being that it's some of the coldest weather we've seen this year, it'll get your attention.
Bothersome winds yet again today will begin to ease overnight as our weekend storm finally moves east. Two more clipper systems will pass to our north this week allowing mild air to sneak in. We have a chance at seeing 40 degrees a couple time during the later half of the week, so those fine looking snowmen and women that popped up over the weekend will be in a sweaty situation at that point. If they can survive the January thaw, another cold blast will have them feeling more at home by the weekend as January-like temps return.
Strong Winds Helped to Ring in the New Year
If you left the cold and windy weather to the birds, you weren't alone. Take a look at some of the crazy wind gusts across the area yesterday.
Other Strong Winds Reports
This was from the NWS:
A Warm December
The 43F high temperature on Saturday (December 31st) helped to bring the average December temperature to 27.8 degrees, which was good enough for the 7th warmest December on record. Interestingly 4 out of the last 6 months months made it into the top 10 warmest months on record locally.
Colder Start to 2012
Although the first part of 2012 is starting cold for us locally, it won't last long. Notice the strong upper level winds across the Pacific, pushing mild Pacific air into the the western half of the nation. After the cold lobe of air moves out of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region, we'll sample some of this milder pacific air later in the week.
January Thaw
Look at the warm air nosing into the Upper Midwest by the later half of the week. This mild air will slide up underneath another clipper system heading southbound out of Canada. Temperatures could be as warm as the low 40s, nearly 20 degrees above average. Also note the cold air perched up to the north... after the clipper passes through our neck of the woods on Friday, some of this will head through neighborhoods near you by Saturday & Sunday.
Temperature Outlook Thru Mid January
For those who aren't big fans of the extreme cold, this winter has been your kind of winter. Even when the colder air surges south of the Canadian border, it doesn't last too long. Keep in mind that the 2nd week of January is typically the coldest time for us. Daytime highs generally top out in the lower 20s with overnight lows in the single digits. With that said, the tug of war between the Arctic air to the north and much warmer than normal temperatures will continue to battle back and forth through the middle part of the month. We've has such little cold air this year that overnight lows in the Twin Cities have yet to dip below zero, which through now, we've should have seen nearly 7 sub-zero low temperatures. The image below shows the 8 to 14 day temperature outlook, which brings us through the middle part of the month. Note the warmer that much of the nation looks to remain well above average temperatures AND as a rule of thumb, when Alaska is COLD, we (locally) are generally WARMER than average and that looks to hold true once again.
8 to 14 Day Temperature Outlook
No Big Storms in Sight
The extended models aren't always very trustworthy, but the Meteostar 16 Day Forecast doesn't show much hope for any big storms either. In fact, through the 16 day period, this particular model shows a total of only 0.08" of liquid precipitation... However, it is hinting at some COLDER weather around the middle part of the month.
Thanks for checking in, have a great first full week of 2012!
Meteorologist Todd Nelson
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