Extreme cold warning in effect across Minnesota until noon Friday: What to know
MN weather: Extreme cold warning until noon Friday
FOX 9 Meteorologist Ian Leonard has your latest forecast. Much of Minnesota is under an Extreme cold warning until noon Friday as we experience dangerous wind chills across the state.
(FOX 9) - An extreme cold warning will go into effect across Minnesota starting Thursday evening as temperatures drop to dangerously low levels.
Extreme cold warning
What we know:
The extreme cold warning goes into effect Thursday evening until Friday at noon. The warning will be followed by an extreme cold watch that will be in effect for the latter half of Friday through Saturday.
But, Minnesota isn't alone in feeling the cold. The warning also stretches into the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and northern Kansas. At the same time, 35 states, including Texas, are bracing for a major winter storm.
What's next:
Temps will begin to drop during the day on Thursday with the air temp pushing from around 6 degrees at noon on Thursday to -10 degrees at 7 p.m.
By 7 a.m. on Friday, the air temperature is expected to be around -19 degrees while the windchill could be 40 below zero. It doesn't get much better on Friday as the high temperature for the day in the Twin Cities isn't expected to exceed -8 degrees.
What you can do:
In temperatures like this, frost bite is possible in as little as 15 minutes or less on exposed skin. If you are going out and braving the cold, you need to bundle up.
As for your furry friends, experts recommend pet owners bring their cats indoors any time temps hit single digs and only take dogs out for quick bathroom breaks. The amount of time a dog can stand outside in frigid temperatures depends on their age, health, size, and breed. Young and elderly dogs, along with pets that have thin coats, are extra susceptible to the cold. Keep an eye on your pet outdoors for signs of being too cold, like shivering or lifting its paws. More tips are available here.
Minnesota school closings for Jan. 23
Timeline:
Several school districts in Minnesota plan to be closed or have e-learning days on Friday due to frigid temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills.
Find a list of schools that are closing or are moving to e-learning on Friday below. If you're having trouble viewing the list, click here.
Note: Some school districts, including Minneapolis and Wayzata, already had Friday as a non-school day on their 2026 calendars for record keeping or teacher development days.
Local perspective:
The last time every public school in the state was closed due to cold was during the polar vortex in January 2019. Then-Gov. Mark Dayton used emergency authority to close public schools statewide for multiple days due to life-threatening cold, with recorded wind chills on Jan. 30, 2019 at 50 to 60 degrees below zero across the state. Schools were closed from Jan. 27-31, 2019.
Prior to that, Gov. Dayton closed schools due to cold on Jan. 6, 2014. And Then-Gov. Arne Carlson called off school on Jan. 18, 1994; Feb. 2, 1996; and Jan. 16, 1997, due to cold weather.
The backstory:
An extreme cold warning is self-explanatory, but if you haven't heard of that term before that is because the new warning has replaced wind chill warnings.