Minnesota’s First Ever ‘Extreme Cold Warning’ Issued For 33 Counties

The upcoming forecast contains some dangerously cold conditions, promoting the National Weather Service to issue the first-ever extreme cold warning ever in Minnesota.

This is the first time the National Weather Service has issued this kind of weather warning in Minnesota. I shared earlier this week that it was likely that this weekend's weather could lead to the first usage of this new kind of alert. As the forecast continues to point to dangerously cold conditions, that did indeed happen for a large part of Minnesota.

Here's what you need to know about the new type of warning, how cold it will get, and how long it will last.

What is an extreme cold warning?

This new type of weather alert was first announced last year as something the National Weather Service would use to replace their long-standing wind chill warning, which has been used for many years.

Discontinuing the use of the phrase wind chill warnings and moving to cold weather warnings was done to increase clarity when communicating dangerously cold conditions with an easy-to-understand name that focuses on the cold part of the warning, and not just the wind chill factor.

An extreme cold warning is issued when the combination of air temperatures and/or wind chill values will get to a dangerous level.

Where and when will this extreme cold weather warning go into effect in Minnesota?

The northernmost 33 counties in Minnesota (nearly half of the state - all shown in dark blue above) will see an extreme cold warning, which goes into effect at 6 pm on Saturday night and stays in place through noon on Tuesday.

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The remaining Minnesota counties (shown in lighter blue) will be under a cold weather advisory. This new type of alert replaces wind chill advisories, and means there will be hazardous cold conditions - though they won't be as severe as areas experiencing an extreme cold warning.

How cold is it going to get in Minnesota during this extreme cold warning?

During this warning period, dangerous wind chills are expected. In the eastern half of the counties, the National Weather Service is forecasting wind chills as low as -40. Meanwhile, in some of the western counties of Minnesota, wind chills could sink close to -50.

During this time, frostbite and hypothermia are both serious health risks that could occur in as little as 10 minutes.

In addition, this level of cold for a matter of a few days could lead to freezing and ruptured water pipes and other home and infrastructure issues.

By the mid to late part of next week, temperatures should get back into the 20s above zero. While that won't be warm enough to thaw things out, it will be a big improvement from what we'll see through the weekend and to start the new week.