Weather Blog for Duluth and the Northland

6:40 PM Friday, January 17, 2025

Multiple weather alerts are in effect across the Northland.

Duluth area

*Cold Weather Advisory from Midnight tonight to 6 PM Saturday with wind chills of -30 to -35 expected.

*Extreme Cold Warning 6 PM Saturday to Noon Tuesday with wind chills of -40 to -45 expected.

Northland area

• Extreme Cold Warning in effect from Saturday evening to early Tuesday afternoon for all of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. Dangerously cold wind chills of 40 to 45 degrees below zero are expected.

• Cold Weather Advisory in effect from late tonight through early Saturday evening for all of northeast and north-central Minnesota. Very cold wind chills of 30 to 35 below zero are expected.

• Wind Advisory through early Saturday morning for the North Shore of Lake Superior. Northwest winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 55 mph expected. Tree limbs could be blown down, and a few power outages may result from the gusty winds.

Temperature forecast for the Northland

Highs

Saturday: 5 above to 5 below zero.
Sunday and Monday: 5 below to 15 below zero.
Tuesday: Zero to 5 below.

Lows

Tonight: 5 above to 10 below zero.
Saturday night through Monday night: 15 below to 30 below zero.

Note: Lows as cold as 35 to near 40 below zero are possible in the typical cold spots in northern Minnesota Sunday night and Monday night.

Here comes the arctic air, and to bring in this arctic air, there are some snow showers which will continue to move southeast across the Northland tonight, with accumulations of less than an inch. However, the combination of gusty winds and snow showers could lead to brief near whiteout conditions, especially this evening.

Temperatures are falling quickly across the Northland late this afternoon, but prior to this, we saw temperatures climb into the middle 30s and lower 40s in much of the area today.

Look at the temperatures upstream across Canada, as that is where the Arctic air will be coming in from in the next few days.

Widespread dangerously cold wind chills across Canada today will spread farther south in the coming days.

Note: Anywhere you see a wind chill of -50 on this map, the actual wind chill is even colder than that. Baker Lake, Canada (Nunavut region), reported a wind chill of -69 degrees late this afternoon.

HRRR model wind chill forecast through 12 PM Sunday.

850 mb temperatures (~5,000 feet) in Duluth will drop from around -15°C at 7 PM this evening to around -29°C by 7 PM Saturday and -31°C by noon on Sunday.

HRRR model 850mb temperature forecast through 12 PM Sunday.

500 mb temperatures (~18,000 feet) will bottom out around -44 to -47 °C in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin from Sunday into Monday as the core of the arctic air moves over the area.

Euro model 500mb temperature forecast valid 6 AM Saturday to 6 AM Tuesday.

Thanks for reading!