First trip sub-zero next week?

It’s possible. The long range is zeroing in on a pattern to yield temperatures well below normal. Next Thursday into the weekend looks to boast some of the coldest. For now we have single digit high temperatures with below zero lows in that timeframe. But the finer details will likely dictate if we can go colder. Wind most likely plays a role with wind chills diving even farther. No doubt we’ll be watching this setup closely.

A couple places have already taken the sub-zero drop but the official climate station for SE Minnesota, Rochester, has not. The average first sub-zero temperature typically happens around December the 11th. We’re looking about 10 days after that typical first time. Last year, we hit sub-zero on December 29th for the first time in the season.