Mostly murky: Dense fog and air quality advisories; sun and 40 by Friday?

Talk about murk.

Dense fog and air quality advisories blanket southern Minnesota into Thursday. Let's start with the expanded air quality alert for southern Minnesota.

Air quality readings have spiked in southeast Minnesota and now reach into the orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) category.

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MPCA

Dense fog

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The dense fog advisory covers most of southwest Minnesota.

Including the cities of Morris, Glenwood, Madison, Benson,

Montevideo, Willmar, Granite Falls, Olivia, Redwood Falls,

New Ulm, St Peter, St James, Mankato, and Fairmont

308 PM CST Wed Dec 12 2018

...DENSE FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM

CST THURSDAY...

The National Weather Service in Twin Cities/Chanhassen has issued

a Dense Fog Advisory, which is in effect from 8 PM this evening

to 8 AM CST Thursday.

* VISIBILITY...Widespread visibilities of a quarter mile or less

are expected to develop this evening and last through the night.

* IMPACTS...Limited visibilities will make travel difficult. With

temperatures below freezing, freezing fog could lead to slick

spots on area roadways.

Milder by Friday

We need a good breeze to mix out the fog and particulate matter. That arrives by Thursday night. Friday and Saturday look sunnier and milder.

I still think much of southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities have a good shot at 40 degrees Friday and Saturday afternoons. The mild air lingers into next week.

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NOAA via Weather Bell.

Mild into Christmas Eve?

Right now the medium-range guidance products favor milder than average weather into Christmas Eve. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center favors milder-than-average temperatures overall across the northern United States into the first days of 2019.

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NOAA

Stay tuned.