Monday night supermoon; milder temps and flake chance Tuesday afternoon
The temperature at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport hit one degree above zero Monday afternoon.
Why should we care?
Because it was the first time that our official Twin Cities temp was above zero since 8 p.m. on December 29.
That's 66 consecutive hours that our Twin Cities temp was zero degrees or colder!
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However, it was nowhere near our Twin Cities record for consecutive hours of zero or colder.
According to the Minnesota State Climatology Office, the longest stretch of zero or colder in Twin Cities weather records was 186 hours, from 8 p.m. Dec. 31, 1911 through 1 p.m. on Jan. 8, 1912.
Cold wind chills into Tuesday morning
Minnesota and western Wisconsin are in a wind chill advisory from Monday evening into Tuesday morning:
Here are the details
Wind Chill Advisory
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN
1054 AM CST Mon Jan 1 2018
...VERY COLD WIND CHILLS AGAIN TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING...
.Wind chill values will fall into the 25 to 35 degrees below zero
range again tonight and Tuesday morning. Cover exposed skin and
dress in layers when outside during these kind of conditions. If
traveling, make sure you have warm clothes in your car and that
someone knows your travel plans.
A Wind Chill Advisory is in effect from 8 pm this evening through
10 am Tuesday for central and south central Minnesota and west
central Wisconsin.
MNZ060>063-068>070-020100-
/O.EXP.KMPX.WC.Y.0008.000000T0000Z-180101T1700Z/
/O.NEW.KMPX.WC.Y.0001.180102T0200Z-180102T1600Z/
Hennepin-Anoka-Ramsey-Washington-Carver-Scott-Dakota-
Including the cities of Minneapolis, Blaine, St Paul, Stillwater,
Chaska, Shakopee, and Hastings
1054 AM CST Mon Jan 1 2018
...WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM
CST TUESDAY...
...WIND CHILL ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT 11 AM CST THIS MORNING...
* WHAT...Very cold wind chills expected. The cold wind chills will
cause frostbite in as little as 30 minutes to exposed skin.
Expect wind chills around 25 below zero.
* WHERE...Portions of east central Minnesota including the Twin
Cities metro area.
* WHEN...Wind Chill Advisory from 8 PM this evening to 10 AM CST
Tuesday.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A Wind Chill Advisory means that cold air and the wind will
combine to create low wind chills. Frost bite and hypothermia can
occur if precautions are not taken. Make sure you wear a hat and
gloves.
Supermoon
Our Monday evening/night full moon is a "supermoon":
According to space.com:
On this first day of 2018, at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT), the January full moon will arrive at perigee, its closest point to Earth in an orbit. Today, our lunar companion reaches an extreme perigee distance of 221,559 miles (356,565 kilometers). When these events coincide (a full moon at perigee), some people refer to the event as a "supermoon."
This will be the "biggest full moon of 2018," and the difference in the moon's apparent size, compared with when it is positioned at its average distance from Earth, will be 7.3 percent. But that variation is not readily apparent to observers who are viewing the moon directly.
Our cold dry air will give us a clear view of this full moon.
Temperature trends
Some spots in central and southern Minnesota will see Tuesday afternoon highs in the double digits above zero:
Twin Cities highs are expected to be in the single digits above zero Wednesday through Friday, then in the teens on Saturday and possibly into the lower 20s on Sunday.
Snow chances
A low pressure system could bring some light snow showers to northwestern Minnesota Tuesday morning, and those snow showers could spread to the east and southeast Tuesday afternoon and evening.
Our chance of light snow showers in the Twin Cities metro area would be late Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday evening.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's North American Mesoscale forecast model shows the potential snow pattern Tuesday and Tuesday evening:
The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the strength of the signal that returns to the radar, not to the amount of snow.
Programming note
You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:49 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.