textproduct: Twin Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Very cold temperatures continue with wind chills values reaching -25 to -35 degrees tonight. A Cold Weather Advisory is in effect tonight through 11 AM Monday.

- Light snow across western WI could produce minor accumulations Monday evening. Additional low chances for flurries and light snow throughout the week.

- Colder than average temperatures this week but a warming trend arrives next weekend.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 210 PM CST Sun Jan 25 2026

High pressure is building south into the Dakotas this afternoon and will continue to the southern Plains by Monday morning. After rising just above zero today, a cold front will bring another shot of Arctic air in tonight. The ridge axis will extend north into the Upper Midwest and west winds should become light with clear skies. This will lead to good radiational cooling conditions and there should be widespread -20s north of I-94. Winds may not fully decouple since the center of the high is well off to the west. That should keep temps from dropping into the -30s in spots again. However, the wind will result in another round of hazardous wind chills.

A clipper will slide southeast Monday to the northern Great Lakes by Monday night. There is good model consistency in a high confidence/low QPF situation from northern MN to northern WI Monday evening. Forecast soundings near Ladysmith continue to show saturation and moderate Omega for a brief period. Continued to raise PoPs, now in the likely category, northeast of Rice Lake and Eau Claire. Some accumulation is likely, but should be a half inch or less.

Northwest flow will continue this week with occasional bouts of reinforcing cold air. Some flurries are possible at times, but the atmosphere should be too dry for any meaningful accumulating snow. A moderating trend should arrive next weekend as a milder Pacific airmass engulfs North America. That warmer air advection will be aided by a clipper system across the northern Plains and return flow from a large high pressure system over the Mississippi Valley. There may be a better chance for light snow within this regime, but model consistency has been not been great.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z MONDAY/

Issued at 1054 AM CST Sun Jan 25 2026

Cigs will fall during this afternoon with MN terminals ending up somewhere between 1500-3500 feet. However, uncertainty exists on if there will be enough cloud coverage to drop areas to MVFR into this evening. RWF currently looks like the most likely to see MVFR from 21-02Z while the rest of the terminals experience VFR with scattered lower clouds. Skies clear out by tonight with VFR expected the remainder of the period. Northwesterly winds of 5-10 knots will slowly turn counter-clockwise to southwesterly tonight into Monday morning. Speeds will then increase with gusts nearing 20 knots by late morning Monday.

KMSP...Some flurries remain possible into this afternoon but visibilities will stay above 6sm. Thinking that cigs only drop to near 3500 feet this afternoon with the mid-level clouds in place. Mid-level clouds return during Monday afternoon while southwesterly winds gust to near 20 knots.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ MON PM...VFR. Wind SW then NW 10-15G20 kts. TUE...VFR. Wind NW 10-15 kts. WED...VFR. Wind NW 5-10 kts.

MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

MN...Cold Weather Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 11 AM CST Monday for Benton-Chippewa-Douglas-Kanabec-Kandiyohi-Lac Qui Parle-McLeod-Meeker-Mille Lacs-Morrison-Pope-Redwood- Renville-Sherburne-Stearns-Stevens-Swift-Todd-Wright- Yellow Medicine. Cold Weather Advisory from 9 PM this evening to 11 AM CST Monday for Anoka-Blue Earth-Brown-Carver-Chisago-Dakota- Faribault-Freeborn-Goodhue-Hennepin-Isanti-Le Sueur- Martin-Nicollet-Ramsey-Rice-Scott-Sibley-Steele-Waseca- Washington-Watonwan. WI...Cold Weather Advisory from 9 PM this evening to 11 AM CST Monday for Barron-Chippewa-Dunn-Eau Claire-Pepin-Pierce- Polk-Rusk-St. Croix.