Brutal cold might be an understatement.
The thermometer clocked in at 29 degrees below zero Thursday morning at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport, with wind chills approaching 40 degrees below zero.
"It's the coldest day of the season, I can tell you that much, and it's encroaching on some of the coldest days we had from last year," said Steve Gohde, observing program leader at the National Weather Service in Duluth.
Cold, but not record cold. That distinction belongs to 1929, when the temperature in Brainerd dropped to a frigid 38 degrees below zero.
"Feb. 19 seems to be one of the low spots on record for cold days," Gohde said. "(Record cold temperatures) are hard to make around here but last year, with the persistent cold, hopefully that conditioned us this year to appreciate the warmer days."
ADVERTISEMENT
While not a record, Thursday's temperature were a far cry from normal. Gohde said the average temperature for Feb. 19 from 1981-2010 is a low of 3 degrees and a high of 28 degrees.
Friday's temperatures are expected to rebound closer to normal, with the weather service's forecast calling for 22 degrees. However, with the warm-up comes a possibility of snow, with an 80-percent chance of 1-2 inches by noon on Friday. Higher amounts are possible in some areas, the weather service reported.
After Friday, temperatures fall again, with a high of 15 degrees Saturday, a low of 15 degrees below zero Saturday night, a high of 1 degree Sunday and a low 17 degrees below zero Sunday night.
"We've got a bit of a teeter totter, temperature swings coming," Gohde said. "We should start an incremental warming trend as we move toward the middle and end of next week."
However, Gohde noted the Climate Prediction Center is expecting below normal temperatures and precipitation to continue.
