It might not be time to unpack the shorts and T-shirts quite yet, but temperatures this week will feel like a heat wave compared to the recent frigid spell.
Temperatures could reach the 40s by the end of the week in Brainerd, said Carol Christenson, warning coordinator meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Duluth.
"We have air coming straight from the Pacific Northwest, which is actually very mild air," Christenson said. "We're not getting the Arctic air that we're used to getting. Instead, our air is more of a mild, ocean marine-type air."
The warmup brings the potential for rain Friday through the weekend, with a snowy mix and freezing rain possible when temperatures dip in the evening hours.
"We have very, very warm air coming up, which is very unusual for January, to have rain," Christenson said.
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At 20 degrees, the average high temperature this time of year is almost half the potential high of 39 degrees for Friday. That's a 72-degree temperature swing compared to a week earlier, when temperatures the morning of Jan. 13 dipped to 33 below zero.
"Anyone who has lived in this area knows that it can happen," Christenson said. "If you don't like the weather, just wait. It's not unheard of to have huge temperature swings like we're having right now."
Although well above average, this week's temperatures are no match for Brainerd area records. On Jan. 20, 1944, the temperature reached 50 degrees. Two years earlier on Jan. 22, temps topped out at 53 degrees.
The last time central Minnesotans experienced temperatures in the 40s was mid- to late-November, Christenson noted.
Until the forecasted precipitation Friday, the weather is expected to remain stable and mild, with winds from the south and southwest not expected to exceed 5 mph.
