DULUTH, Minn. - The good news is it's going to warm up. The bad news is that it will take awhile.
Today's cold blast of arctic air set a record for the coldest Jan. 21 in International Falls and probably brought the coldest temperatures of the winter.
It hit 46 degrees below zero in International Falls about dawn, breaking the old Jan. 21 record of minus 41 set in 1954.
It was the coldest temperature in Minnesota since Babbitt hit minus 46 in January 2009 and the coldest temperature in International Falls since January 1968, according to assistant state climatologist Pete Boulay.
Many areas north of the Iron Range hit minus 40 or colder.
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The temperature bottomed out at minus 24 at Duluth International Airport, not near the record of minus 33 set in 1983, but the coldest temperature since Jan. 3, 2010, when it hit minus 26 in Duluth.
The coldest temperature recorded in Minnesota was in Tower on Feb. 2, 1996, when it hit minus 60.
Temperatures will recover to about zero for highs across much of the Northland today followed by another night of single digits and teens below zero.
Then the slow warm-up begins, with highs of 4 above on Saturday, 7 on Sunday and in the 20s - above zero - by Wednesday. That will be the first seasonal temperatures after more than a week below normal.
Amazingly, other than stalled cars and cold noses, the subzero temperatures have had few major impacts across the Northland so far. The cold delayed and canceled a few schools in northern Minnesota, but not many. The Duluth school district already had a scheduled day off.
John Myers writes for the Duluth News Tribune
