Minnesota weather: Here's how cold it got Monday and Tuesday

The Twin Cities, and much of Minnesota, has experienced the coldest air in roughly four years. After a couple of pretty wimpy winters in a row, by Minnesota standards, temperatures finally plummeted to what is a little more common for January in Minnesota, at least according to the 30-year climate average. 

Frigid temperatures in Minnesota

The Minneapolis St-Paul International Airport dipped to 19 degrees below zero early Tuesday morning, marking the first time the metro has officially been that cold since Valentine's Day of 2021. Coming off the coldest afternoon since 2019 on Monday, it's been a pretty brutal couple of days in the Twin Cities.

The issue this time around though wasn't just the temperatures, but the combo of the cold and the wind. To get temperatures in the teens, 20s, and 30s below zero, the atmosphere often has to be fairly calm. This allows the cold arctic air that builds up in many layers of the atmosphere to fall to the ground slowly through the night. This forces temperatures here at the surface to drop much further than they otherwise would. 

But the atmosphere was cold enough this time around to get that cold WITH a breeze. Because of this, wind chills eclipsed 40 and 50 degrees below zero in many parts of the state.

On the grand scale of our climate, the temperatures (and even the wind chills) were not all that uncommon. Sure, they're not an everyday occurrence in the winter, but are fairly common in at least one or two cold snaps in the winter season. 

The "average" winter in the Twin Cities experiences the coldest temperature right around minus 18 degrees, putting us in that general ballpark this time around. Record lows this time of year are generally in the 30s and 40s below zero, so we were still well shy of those numbers. The good news is that we will see a much warmer few days ahead as we quickly climb out of this heading into Wednesday.

Here's how cold it got

By the numbers:

Here are the coldest windchills from Monday to Tuesday:

  • Grand Marais: 54 degrees below zero
  • Ely: 53 degrees below zero
  • Bemidji: 52 degrees below zero
  • Detroit Lakes: 51 degrees below zero
  • Duluth: 51 degrees below zero
  • Hibbing: 49 degrees below zero
  • Alexandria: 46 degrees below zero
  • Brainerd: 45 degrees below zero
  • Morris: 45 degrees below zero
  • Hinckley: 43 degrees below zero
  • Saint Cloud: 43 degrees below zero
  • Willmar: 43 degrees below zero
  • Faribault: 43 degrees below zero
  • MSP: 42 degrees below zero
  • Cambridge: 42 degrees below zero
  • Owatonna: 42 degrees below zero
  • Hutchinson: 41 degrees below zero
  • Rochester: 41 degrees below zero
  • International Falls: 40 degrees below zero
  • Mankato: 40 degrees below zero
  • Marshall: 38 degrees below zero
  • Redwood Falls: 38 degrees below zero
  • Windom: 38 degrees below zero
  • Redwing: 37 degrees below zero

(FOX 9)

Lowest statewide temperatures Tuesday morning:

  • Hibbing: 35 degrees below zero
  • International Falls: 30 degrees below zero
  • Ely: 29 degrees below zero
  • Duluth: 27 degrees below zero
  • Bemidji: 27 degrees below zero
  • Brainerd: 27 degrees below zero
  • Hinckley: 27 degrees below zero
  • Saint Cloud: 27 degrees below zero
  • Detroit Lakes: 26 degrees below zero
  • Alexandria: 26 degrees below zero
  • Cambridge: 26 degrees below zero
  • Morris: 22 degrees below zero
  • Owatonna: 21 degrees below zero
  • Rochester: 20 degrees below zero
  • Red Wing: 20 degrees below zero
  • Mankato: 19 degrees below zero
  • MSP: 15 degrees below zero
  • Hutchinson: 18 degrees below zero
  • Marshall: 18 degrees below zero
  • Windom: 18 degrees below zero
  • New Ulm: 18 degrees below zero

(FOX 9)

Lowest temperatures in the Twin Cities metro area Tuesday morning: 

  • Scandia: 26 degrees below zero
  • Rogers: 24 degrees below zero
  • Rockford: 23 degrees below zero
  • Forest Lake: 22 degrees below zero
  • Stillwater: 22 degrees below zero
  • Eden Prairie: 22 degrees below zero
  • Andover: 21 degrees below zero
  • Rosemount: 21 degrees below zero
  • Coon Rapids: 21 degrees below zero
  • Maple Plain: 21 degrees below zero
  • Victoria: 21 degrees below zero
  • Hugo: 21 degrees below zero
  • Waconia: 21 degrees below zero
  • Minnetonka: 20 degrees below zero
  • Maple Grove: 20 degrees below zero
  • Burnsville: 20 degrees below zero
  • Lakeville: 20 degrees below zero
  • Roseville: 20 degrees below zero
  • North St. Paul: 20 degrees below zero
  • Woodbury: 20 degrees below zero
  • Carver: 20 degrees below zero
  • Cottage Grove: 19 degrees below zero
  • Jordan: 19 degrees below zero
  • Eagan: 19 degrees below zero
  • Robbinsdale: 19 degrees below zero
  • Mound: 19 degrees below zero
  • Hastings: 18 degrees below zero
  • St. Paul: 18 degrees below zero
  • Edina: 18 degrees below zero
  • Minneapolis: 18 degrees below zero
  • Prior Lake: 18 degrees below zero
  • Blaine: 18 degrees below zero

(FOX 9)

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