"Cold enough for ya?" The answer for that question this weekend should be "you're darn right." Dangerously cold air is arriving in Minnesota later Thursday according to WCCO-TV Chief Meteorologist Chris Shaffer.
The entire Upper Midwest is under an Extreme Cold Warning. It stretches from the Dakotas and Nebraska, through all of Minnesota, into Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan - even touching Missouri and Illinois.
"So our temperatures are gonna fall throughout the day," Shaffer says. "The wind is going to pick up from the northwest, 10 to 20 MPH. That's a bad combination. By the time you're having supper, it's probably feeling like 30 below already, and by the time you get up tomorrow morning, it could feel like 40 below in the Twin Cities. It could feel like 50 below in places up near Bemidji."
The Extreme Cold Warning is in effect from 6:00 p.m. Thursday through noon on Friday. That then transitions into a Cold Weather Advisory from Friday at noon until Friday at midnight. Further north of the Twin Cities, that warning goes into effect at 3:00 p.m. Thursday.
"This is why the National Weather Service has the extreme cold warning, basically a heads up that you could get frostbite in 10 minutes or less if you're out there without gloves or a hat, the extremities essentially," says Shaffer. "So if you're spending any time out there, make sure you layer up."
Shaffer says the cold air will hang around into Saturday and we will likely creep back above zero in the Twin Cities by midday Sunday.
This is some of the coldest air we've had in a while.
"We're talking very, very cold," says National Weather Service meteorologist Brent Hewett. "This is likely the coldest air we've seen since January 2019, and again it could be potentially life threatening if someone's heat goes out, or they don't have access to, you know, heat."
Hewett says the Arctic air will move into the region Thursday evening and confirms those wind chills will reach to 30 to 50 below zero.
And it will hang around, so make sure if you are out and about, put some blankets and cold weather gear in your vehicle in case you get stranded.
"That cold kind of sits over us through, you know, a good part of the weekend, but the coldest will be definitely tomorrow through Saturday morning, or tomorrow night through Saturday morning," says Hewett. "But this is a very prolonged snap, so you gotta take this seriously."
He says if the current forecast holds with a high temperature of 8 degrees below zero on Friday, it would be tied for the third-coldest high temperature since 2000.
EXTREME COLD WARNING 6 PM THURSDAY-NOON FRIDAY
COLD WEATHER ADVISORY NOON FRIDAY-MIDNIGHT FRIDAY NIGHT
* WHAT...For the Extreme Cold Warning, dangerously cold wind chills as low as 45 below expected. For the Cold Weather Advisory, dangerously cold wind chills as low as 35 below expected.
* WHERE...Portions of central, east central, and west central Minnesota and northwest and west central Wisconsin.
* WHEN...For the Extreme Cold Warning, from 6 PM this evening to noon Friday. For the Cold Weather Advisory, from noon Friday to midnight Friday Night.
* IMPACTS...The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 45 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.
CHRIS SHAFFER FORECAST
THURSDAY: Partly cloudy. High: Falling temps. NW 10-20 mph.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Low: -17. NW Wind 5-10 mph.
FRIDAY: Partly cloudy. High: -8. NW wind 5-10 mph.
Extreme Cold Warning 9pm Thursday night through noon Friday. Feeling -30 to -40 in the wind. Frostbite in 10 minutes or less.
Average high and low….23/8