“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome,” Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet mused back in the mid-1600s. Do you think our ancestors griped about the cold, or were they stoic and steadfast, refusing to give in to negativism? There was no windchill index back then. That helped.
Douglas: Typical February chill for next two weeks
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 9, 2025 at 9:33PM
I wouldn’t describe the coming cold as a reprise of the dreaded polar vortex, but temperatures will average 10 degrees to 20 degrees colder than normal the next nine to 11 days with as many as five to 10 nights below zero. Severe nippy, but not school-closing cold.
I count 17 nights below zero at MSP so far this winter from a colder La Niña phase of the Pacific Ocean. Since 1991 the metro area has averaged 22 subzero nights, so we’re not far off the mark.
Too cold for (heavy) snow, but a coating is possible later Monday. Fresh powder in your yard won’t be melting anytime soon, but models hint at 20s, maybe a few 30s the last week of February. A Minnesota “warm front.”
