January Preview: Coldest air in 8 months, milder next week
I'm seeing strange and unusual colors on the weather maps.
The coldest air mass in about 8 months slides over Minnesota early Friday morning. Thursday high of 22 at MSP is the coldest day since March 11th when we hit 21 degrees.
Sub-zero up north
Overnight temps plunge below zero in much of northern Minnesota Friday morning. A few temperature records may fall Friday morning.
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All of Minnesota wakes up to January level temps Friday. The brittle early-season chill dives deep into the Midwest.
Lakes icing up
Lakes are responding with an early coat if ice this fall. It's still too early for "safe" ice. Give it time.
Red Lake ice floes
NOAA satellites captures ice floes today in brisk northwest winds on Lower Red Lake.
Temps moderate this weekend
Temperatures begin to rebound after Friday's chill. Highs push back into the 40s this weekend. The Twin Cities stands a good shot at 50 degrees next Tuesday.
Mild spells deep into November?
Yes it's frigid now. But I'm seeing signs on the medium-range weather maps of milder air intervals well into November. The jet stream shows episodes of milder westerly flow ahead.
NOAA's 8-14 day outlook favors milder than average temperatures into Thanksgiving week across the western half of the U.S.
NOAA's GFS 16-day output favors another shot of 50 degree weather around the weekend of November 18-19, with rain snow chances and sharply colder air after that. Timing and magnitude of any warm up will probably change.
Stay tuned.