Rime ice and hoar frost are commonly misidentified. The process in which the ice crystals form are different between the two. Rime forms as super cooled water droplets freeze on contact commonly forming needle like structures. Rime is most common with freezing fog. Ice structures may be wind driven with rime occurring on the downwind side of what the droplets are freezing on to. Hoar frost will occur on clear and cold nights when water vapor condenses directly to the ice phase referred to as deposition, and the ice structures that form during this process are feathered in appearance. It commonly happens on snow fields as water vapor accumulates near the surface as the snow warms up during the day and then deposits at night as temperatures cool (a.k.a. surface hoar). Surface hoar will scatter light in all different directions given off a sparkly sheen to the snow.

As of Thursday, January 5th, the MSP Airport recorded 16" of snow on the ground. Interestingly, this tied for the 11th greatest snow depth on record for January 5th! My guess is that cross country and snowmobile trails are going to be packed this weekend!

The Twin Cities on Saturday, January 6th will be cooler than it has been with highs only warming into the mid/upper teens. Areas of freezing fog & rime ice will be in place in the morning with sunny skies in the afternoon. It should be a chilly, but beautiful day.

Temps across the region on Saturday will be about -5F to -10F below average across the southern half of the state, including the Twin Cities. Patchy freezing fog will be in place in the morning with sunny skies in the afternoon.

The weather outlook through the day Saturday will be quite chilly in the morning with starting in the single digits and patchy freezing fog. Sunny skies will persist in the afternoon with temps warming into the mid/upper teens with a light south to southwesterly wind.

Feels like temps through the day Saturday won't be too much colder than the actual air temperature thanks to lighter winds. However, it'll still be cooler than average for early January.

After our big messy snowstorm earlier this week, things will be pretty quiet over the next several days. We may not see any sizeable precipitation until later next week as temperatures gradual warm back to the freezing more or better. Enjoy the quiet weather while you can!

Things will be rather quiet over the next several days with minimal precipitation potential through next week. Enjoy the quieter weather while you can!

The extended temperature outlook for Minneapolis over the next 5 days shows slightly cooler temps through the weekend, but we'll get back to if not slightly above average into early next week.

The extended weather outlook through next week looks fairly quiet with temps running a little closer to average. Looking ahead, we don't have any major storm systems to contend with, so you can put away the snow shovels for the time being...

The NBM extended temperature outlook for Minneapolis over the next several days shows cooler temps in place through the weekend with a gradual warming trend into the 2nd week of January. We may see a few days with highs at or above the freezing mark once again.

After a brief cool spell this weekend, it appears that temperatures will return to above average levels for many locations east of the Rockies as we head into mid month.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14 day temperature outlook shows warmer than average temperatures across much of the nation, especially east of the Rockies.

According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the 8 to 14 Day precipitation outlook shows more active weather in place across parts of the nation. The most active areas look to be found in the Western US and also in the Northeast.

"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy" wrote Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Is it possible to seethe world through the eyes of a child? We are grandparents now, and our answer is yes. You can find that sense of wonder and awe every once in awhile.

Yesterday was staggeringly beautiful; ice fog lifting to reveal blue sky and bits of glittering diamond dust falling off the trees. I felt like I was in a commercial for Explore Minnesota. Even if you believe a Minnesota winter is a cruel, near-death-experience, it was hard not to be astounded by a landscape spray-painted in white. Or as I tell my grandson "It's not snow - it's vanilla icing!"

Our weather will be flavored more by the Pacific than the Arctic looking out 2 weeks. While California is pummeled by a parade of flooding storms, I see little weather drama here - maybe some slush next Thursday. No headline-grabbing storms in sight. I see 20s and 30s into the third week of January. Above zero! That's a big win.

SATURDAY: Ice fog, then sunshine. Winds: SW 3-8. High: 15.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy and cold. Winds: SSW 5. Low: 2.

SUNDAY: Early fog, then partly sunny. Winds: SW 5-10. High: 18.

MONDAY: Mix of clouds and sun. Winds: S 5-10. Wake-up: 11. High: 27.

TUESDAY: Patchy fog and clouds. Winds: SW 5-10. Wake-up: 13. High: 24.

WEDNESDAY: Mostly cloudy, a little drizzle? Winds: S 5-10. Wake-up: 21. High: 33.

THURSDAY: A little slushy snow possible. Winds: N 10-20. Wake-up: 25. High: 32.

FRIDAY: Partial clearing, drying out. Winds: NW 7-12. Wake-up: 21. High: 30.

January 7th

2003: Record warmth develops over Minnesota. Many places reached the 50s, including the Twin Cities. St. James hit 59 and the Twin Cities reached 51. Nine golf courses were open in the Twin Cities and 100 golfers were already at the Sundance Golf Course in Maple Grove in the morning.

1873: A storm named the 'Great Blizzard' hits Minnesota. This three-day blizzard caused extreme hardship for pioneers from out east who were not used to the cold and snow. Visibility was down to three feet. Cows suffocated in the deep drifts and trains were stuck for days. More than 70 people died, and some bodies were not found until spring. Weather conditions before the storm were mild, just like the Armistice Day storm.

January 7th

Average High: 24F (Record: 52F set in 2003)

Average Low: 10F (Record: -34F set in 1887)

Record Rainfall: 0.30" set in 1989

Record Snowfall: 3.6" set in 1989

January 7th

Sunrise: 7:50am

Sunset: 4:48pm

Hours of Daylight: ~8 hours & 58 minutes

Daylight GAINED since yesterday: +1 Minutes & 15 Seconds

Daylight GAINED since Winter Solstice (December 21st): ~ 11 minutes

1.3 Days After Full "Wolf" Moon

"January 6th (5:08 p.m. CST) - Throughout cold January nights, the howling of wolves could be heard around villages in both Europe and America, so the January Full Moon became widely known as the Wolf Moon. Alternative Names: Chinese: Holiday Moon; Celtic: Quiet Moon; Cherokee: Cold Moon; Southern Hemisphere: Hay Moon, Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, Mead Moon"

The weather outlook on Saturday looks a little unsettled across the Southern US, where scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop with locally heavy rainfall. Temperatures will also be a bit warmer than average along and east of the Mississippi River Valley and especially across the Southern US, where thunderstorms are likely to develop.

The weather outlook for Saturday shows an area of low pressure developing in the Southern US, where scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop. Some of the storms could produce locally heavy rainfall, but there shouldn't be any severe weather concerns. On the northern edge of this system, there could be a light rain snow mix across parts of the Ohio Valley. Meanwhile, areas of rain and snow continue in the Western US with more on the way through next week!

A developing area of low pressure will scoot across the Central US this weekend with scattered showers and storms in the Southern US with locally heavy rainfall. Decent rainfall amounts will be possible through the Mid-Atlantic Region with a light wintry mix through the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast. Meanwhile, areas of heavy rain and heavy mountain snow will be found across parts of the Western US this weekend.

According to NOAA's Weather Prediction Center, the extended precipitation outlook shows pockets of heavy rainfall from the Coastal Bend of Texas through the Lower Mississippi Valley and into the Tennessee Valley through the weekend heady. There may also be some heavier stuff through the Mid-Atlantic Region. The heaviest and most widespread precipitation will be found in the Western US, where several inches of liquid can't be ruled out through next week. Flooding concerns will remain elevated in the areas, especially in areas that have seen flooding in recent days.

According to the ECMWF (European model), heavy snow will be found across much of the high elevations in the Western US. Some locations in the Sierra Nevada Range could see more than 100" through early next week!

"In a world getting used to extreme weather, 2023 is starting out more bonkers than ever and meteorologists are saying it's natural weather weirdness with a bit of help from human-caused climate change. Much of what's causing problems worldwide is coming out of a roiling Pacific Ocean, transported by a wavy jet stream, experts said. At least one highway in drought-mired California looked more like a river because of torrential rain from what is technically called an atmospheric river of moisture. New Year's brought shirtsleeve weather to the U.S. East and record high temperatures to Europe as the Northern Hemisphere on Wednesday was more than 2.6 degrees hotter than the late 20th century average. And this is after frigid air escaped the Arctic to create a Christmas mess for much of the United States. "All the ingredients are in place for two weeks of wild weather especially in the Western U.S.," private meteorologist Ryan Maue said in an email."

See more from NPR HERE:

"Most of us have felt the impact of climate change and environmental degradation in our immediate surroundings: The shorter winters, greying skies, the disappearing birds and butterflies, the vanishing inland waterbodies and the noxious air. But it is only when we look at data do we understand the global scale of these problems. In India, for instance, climate change-induced extreme weather events wreaked havoc throughout 2022. Heatwaves, cyclones, cloudbursts, floods and a few other of these disasters ravaged almost every part of the country this year in unprecedented intensities. In individual pockets, they may have manifested themselves as sporadic incidents. But did you know that India experienced extreme weather events on 291 of the 334 days from beginning of year to November 30? In the last 50 years, 69 per cent of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have been wiped out from the face of the earth, the Living Planet Report 2022 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) showed."

See more from Down to Earth HERE:

"The devastation caused by climate disaster events in 2022 highlights the gravity of the climate emergency. A shift from post-disaster recovery to prevention, resilience and risk reduction needs investment to save lives, livelihoods and money, and protect against damages. The insurance sector is critical in making the world more resilient to climate change and innovative strategies in risk modelling could help mitigate against significant climate-induced losses. The past year alone has reinforced the gravity of the climate emergency. The year 2022 witnessed the category 4 storm Hurricane Ian devastate southwest Florida in the United States, while unprecedented flooding displaced 33 million Pakistanis and extreme heat melted train tracks and airport runways in the United Kingdom. Such extreme weather events challenge societal tendencies to deal with the aftermath of storms, floods, heatwaves and wildfires as business-as-usual and that we can recover from them by repeatedly rebuilding and regrouping. Instead, they highlight the need for building more resilience to the physical threats posed by climate change before they strike."

See more from We Forum HERE: