
Map of minimum wind chill temperatures across Minnesota for the between noon (18z) on Monday January 20, and 10 AM (16z) Tuesday January 21, 2025. Map courtesy of Chanhassen National Weather Service Forecast Office.
The coldest air in nearly four years swept across Minnesota between Friday the 17th and Tuesday the 21st of January 2025, sending temperatures into the -10s to -30s F, with wind chill temperatures between -30 and -50 F from Sunday through Tuesday morning.A frigid air mass began setting up to the north of the Canadian border during the middle and later portions of the week, even as mild air surged into Minnesota from the southwest. A series of cold fronts brought the cold air into the state in waves, with the first one crossing Minnesota on Friday, and then two more moving through Saturday and then Sunday night into Monday. This active pattern with frequent air mass changes kept the region windy, which made the air feel colder than temperatures alone would indicate.The lowest temperatures generally were observed Monday and Tuesday mornings, including a statewide minimum of -42 F at Kabetogama in far northern St. Louis County on Monday the 20th. The lowest wind chills, reaching -30 F to -50 F, were observed statewide from Sunday night into Monday morning from Monday night into Tuesday morning. As is common, the lowest temperatures and wind chills were found in northern Minnesota, and far northeastern areas observed wind chills well into the -50s F. This was a dangerous cold air outbreak, and had lower temperatures and wind chill values than any cold snap since
February of 2021. Given that it occurred during mid-January, however, this was not a historically significant cold air outbreak. No long-term stations set daily cold-weather records, and many had recorded hundreds of colder days since their records began.January 21, 2025KAB