Bitter cold Sunday to give way to 30s by mid-week
Published 1:17 pm Saturday, December 17, 2016
- A man sets up ice fishing equipment on Mill Pond around 1 p.m. Friday as snow moves into Austin. Jason Schoonover/jason.schoonover@austindailyherald.com
Baby, it’s cold outside.
After a storm system dumped 3 to 5 inches across southern Minnesota on Friday and early Saturday, temperatures will plummet below zero, where they should stay until Monday.
“Man, it’s going to get cold,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Lawrence Saturday morning.
Friday and Saturday’s storm system dropped a little less than expected, with the 3 to 5 inches across the Austin area and the region and a band of 5 to 6 inches from Wabasha to the Twin Cities. The system let up a bit overnight, so the totals were a bit less than expected, according to Lawrence.
But the big story is the cold. Temperatures on Saturday night and Sunday morning were expected to hit 23 degrees below zero with minus 30 to 45 degree wind chill values.
“It’s some seriously cold air,” Lawrence said.
Even with sunny conditions on Sunday, the high will struggle to reach minus 10, Lawrence said.
On Sunday, Austin could flirt with a few records, but it’s likely to fall just short of them. The record low for Dec. 18 is minus 29 and the lowest recorded high temperature is minus 12, both set in 1983, an infamously cold winter.
Temperatures will go back above zero on Monday and even hit double digits with a high around 19 degrees.
By mid- to late next week, Austin should actually see temperatures slightly above average when highs hit the low 30s.
However, that warm air could potentially bring snow by mid-week, and the weather service is watching a system for Wednesday; however, it’s too early to tell what it will do.
Holiday travel is looking relatively clear next weekend. Christmas could see a chance of light snow, but it no big systems are expected.
Christmas at Home rescheduled for Jan. 6 and 7
The Christmas at Home shows slated for Friday and Saturday have been postponed to Jan. 6 and 7 due to this weekend’s storm.
On Friday, Lyle, LeRoy-Ostrander and Southland schools closed at 1 p.m. Austin Public Schools canceled all after school activities, including the Christmas at Home concerts at the Paramount Theatre.
