Now that we have your attention

My wife took me to the movie theater yesterday afternoon and we sat through about a half dozen previews before the feature film. It reminded me of the winter of 2007/2008, where we have had sneak previews of arctic air since the first of December. Well, it appears that the featured insurgence of arctic air is about to begin. Tuesday and Wednesday give pause to ponder -- this is Minnesota and it is January.

If you haven’t yet pulled out the best of your layered looked wardrobe, you should have long johns, corduroys, turtle necks and flannel close at hand for the next couple of weeks.

We were due for an invasion of character-building cold in the heart of winter. Since the chilly start to the New Year, there were 10 days in a row where the Twin Cities overnight low temperatures were in the teens, 20s, and even a 30. During the past 24 hours, Old Man Winter has taken control of the dominant air mass. Historically, climate data shows the average maximum and minimum for Minneapolis/St. Paul bottoms out at 21 and 3 degrees, respectively through Jan. 17. No surprise at the timing of this numbing cold.

Hope you enjoyed the early January thaw, because we may be looking at quite a run of temperatures falling well short of 32 degrees. Business is likely to pick up for travel agents soon.

Eight-to-14 day outlook

CE