Big chill

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An icy downtown Minneapolis skyline rises above a frigid I-394.

It's brutal, it's dangerous, but it's not even close to a record.

Our current cold snap is significant to be sure. We've been below zero in the metro since midnight Tuesday. (Monday night) That's about 65 consecutive hours below zero. By the time we rise above zero around lunchtime Friday, we may be up to about 84 hours.

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While that's a long time below zero, and may be the longest stretch in 13 years, it's not even close to a record. The longest stretch on record was about 9 days from Dec 31st, 1911 through January 8th, 1912.

This morning's -21 at MSP was the coldest reading in nearly 5 years. We hit -24 on January 30, 2004. We may flirt with that number early Friday morning.

Twin Cities cold facts

The good news is our cold snap is about to break. We should climb out of the deep freeze and be above zero by around noon Friday. In fact we may not dip below zero again until at least next Friday. And it appears a January thaw is in the cards for next week when temps should push into at least the mid-30's.

That's mid-30's ABOVE zero.

The overall pattern appears to favor average to above average temps for the next two weeks. Let's hope so. We can still get big arctic outbreaks in February. But from where I sit right now, it appears possible that we're now moving through the coldest days this winter may have to offer.

Stay tuned.

PH