textproduct: Duluth

KEY MESSAGES

- Below normal temperatures continue into the weekend before warming back to near normal levels for Sunday into the new week.

- Little chances for precipitation through the period outside of some lake-effect across northwest Wisconsin at times.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 327 PM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

High pressure stretched from the Canadian Prairies into the Northern and Central Plains early this afternoon with low pressure along the Ontario-Quebec border between James Bay and Lake Huron. This was setting up a pressure gradient across the Great Lakes into Minnesota resulting in gusty northwest winds across the region. This gradient will slacken a bit tonight as the low moves further eastward. Gusts will likely subside, but sustained winds will still be around 5 to 15 mph for most locations. With cold air still in place, lows tonight will drop into the teens below zero with wind chills in the 20s below zero. A few locations may fall into the lower 30s below zero, but this is not expected to be widespread enough for any cold headlines tonight.

With the persistent northwesterly winds, lake-effect snow showers will continue across the South Shore in northwest Wisconsin tonight into Friday. Given the cold temperatures and building ice on Lake Superior, there isn't much for moisture to work with, so snow showers are expected to be light with accumulations of around an inch or less through Friday. Isolated higher amounts will be possible along the State Route 77 corridor in northern Iron County.

Generally northwest flow will prevail through the week with high pressure keeping the clipper train well to our west. Temperatures will slowly warm through the remainder of the week with single digits above zero for Wednesday through Friday before reaching into the teens and low 20s Saturday. Near normal temperatures in the low to middle 20s will then be seen for Sunday into the new week. There will be low chance for snow Friday into Friday night from the Arrowhead into northern Wisconsin as an upper low and trough drop southward on the eastern periphery of the high. This system looks moisture starved and any accumulations will be minimal, if any. A better chance for snow will arrive in the Sunday-Monday time frame in association with a clipper. Moisture again looks to be lacking with this system with chances for at least an inch of snow remaining in the 15-30% range with about a 40 to 60% chance for at least a dusting of snow.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 523 PM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

Largely VFR conditions across the region this evening. Satellite shows an MVFR stratus deck moving across the Arrowhead and western Ontario. Model guidance is suggesting another round of stratus clouds could sink south and impact northern MN overnight. But guidance has been pretty poor of late when it comes to ceilings and upstream observations don't look super supportive at the moment. For now we are keeping the TAFs VFR. Chances for seeing some MVFR ceilings look to be around 30% between 09Z-15Z. Tomorrow, soundings look to support some scattered cloud decks at MVFR heights. May need some tempos for MVFR conditions depending on how dense the cloud field ends up being.

MARINE /FOR NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR/

Issued at 327 PM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

Northwesterly winds will continue to gust to 20 to 25 knots through this evening before weakening to 20 knots or less after midnight. A Small Craft Advisory remains in effect for these gusty winds. Winds will slowly become northerly Wednesday into Wednesday night and remain under 20 knots. Winds the remain at 20 knots or less into the weekend.

For the open water discussion, refer to the NWS Marquette Area Forecast Discussion at weather.gov/mqt.

DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

MN...None. WI...None. MARINE...Small Craft Advisory until midnight CST tonight for LSZ140>146- 148-150.