Arctic Air Mass Expected to Bring Sub Zero Cold to SE Minnesota

Our autumn temperature rollercoaster ride continues this week, with another exciting drop into well-below normal temps across Minnesota. (And yes, its still technically autumn.) Winter doesn't officially start until December 21st.

After an incredibly mild weekend, temperatures are poised to nosedive beginning Tuesday night, with highs struggling to get out of the single digits on Wednesday and Thursday.

In fact, the National Weather Service is predicting our high on Wednesday is expected to occur in the morning with a reading in tthe low teens, with temps slowly falling during the day, to about 7 by afternoon drive time. Wednesday night the overnight low is forecast to bottom out somewhere around -5, with a high on Thursday lucky to climb above 10.

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That's weather that would be considered cold in January and February.

The good news is that this week's cold snap, like last week's, will be short-lived. We rebound nicely with a high near 30 on Friday, and mid-thirties on Saturday.

This all comes on the heels of the warmest meteorological fall (September, October, November) ever recorded. The average temperature ended up at 6.1 degrees above normal, and precipitation 3.47 inches below average. Snowfall was also 2.8 inches below normal for the period.

The warmest fall, until this year, was in 1931 (during the Dust Bowl).

The average high temperature for this week in Rochester is in the upper 20s, with an average low of 15. Tuesday night through Thursday will be well below those averages.

NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) 8 to 10 day outlook for December 15th through 20th is calling for above normal temps with near normal precipitation.