It looks a tad like winter, with a dusting of snow that fell Tuesday night, but it definitely feels like it. Temperatures fell all day Wednesday to a bitterly cold that sank below zero in some areas as the coldest air of the season moved into the state.
In a Wednesday afternoon hazardous weather outlook, the National Weather Service said temperatures will fall below zero throughout the state overnight. Wind chills will be in the teens to 20s below zero with areas in central Minnesota and western Wisconsin approaching 30 degrees below zero.
But the trip to the deep freeze won't last long. A warmup is on tap for the weekend, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tyler Hasenstein.
For the next two days, however, the advice is to bundle up as temperatures venture into negative territory from Wednesday night to Thursday morning and struggle to get out of the single digits above zero on Thursday in the metro and southern Minnesota. In northwestern Minnesota, highs on Thursday might not get above zero, the National Weather Service in Grand Forks predicts.
Along with the cold, windchill readings — what it feels like — will reach as low as minus-20 degrees by Thursday morning and minus-30 to 40 degrees in northwestern Minnesota, the Weather Service said. The lowest windchill readings are expected from Alexandria to Moorhead and north to the Canadian border.
That is where a Cold Weather Advisory is in effect until noon Wednesday. In northern and northeastern Minnesota, the advisory will be in effect from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 9 a.m. Friday.
"Wear appropriate clothing, a hat and gloves," the Weather Service said. "The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 40 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.
Snow that fell overnight didn't amount to much, with early readings ranging from a tenth of an inch in Olivia in central Minnesota to three-tenths of an inch in Prior Lake and four-tenths of an inch in Forest Lake and Brooklyn Park.
Roads were mainly wet Wednesday morning in the Twin Cities. MnDOT plows were out at 6 a.m., but the precipitation combined with the cold could create some icy spots on the roads, Hasenstein said.
By Friday, temperatures will be on the upswing, moderating into the teens and 20s for highs and into the 30s for the weekend. A "messy system" could bring another chance for snow or rain by Saturday with another chance for precipitation early next week, Hasenstein said.