14 F. high yesterday at KMSP (1:18 am)
28 F. average high on December 12.
41 F. high on December 12, 2015.
December 13, 1995: A low pressure system moved across northern Minnesota, depositing a band of five to seven inch snowfall along a line from around Wheaton to north of St. Cloud and around Rush City. Alexandria received seven inches of snow. Meanwhile, in southern Minnesota, one to four inches of snow fell, along with one-quarter to one-half inch of freezing rain, which forced some school closures.=
December 13, 1821: An extended cold snap begins at Ft. Snelling. Highs were below zero for all but one day of a 19-day stretch.
Welcome to One of the 3 Coldest Weeks of Winter
I have a slightly different take on this week's cold wave. I just returned from Beijing, China, where the locals were friendly but the air was not. The smog was worse than anything I've experienced, in fact it made me sick. Imagine a week of smelling moldy, sweet and sour gym socks. Happy to be back in Minnesota, where the air is cold but fresh.
We should never ever take clean air for granted.
What I suspect will be one of the 3 coldest shots of the entire winter treats us to single-digit daytime highs and 4 subzero lows by Monday. Not record-setting. No need for Governor Dayton to close schools or call out the National Guard. This is Minnesota. We've been through this drill.
When it's this cold it doesn't take much moisture to squeeze out plowable amounts of powder, and models hint at snowy, icy roads Friday into early Saturday, followed by a harsh slap. ECMWF guidance predicts air temperatures near -18F at MSP Sunday morning. Ouch.
Expect 20s, even 30s next week, but there's little doubt we'll have a white Christmas and a real winter. We're due for one of those.
New Delhi's Air Pollution Rises Again. Pollution across parts of India rivals or even exceeds China. Details via The Wall Street Journal.

Cold Air Pollution. Canada is invading (again); GFS data from NOAA shows the core of the coldest air arriving later this week across the Upper Midwest - another shot Sunday morning when air temperatures may dip below -20F from the Dakotas into Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wicked cold. Expect moderation next week with 20s and 30s for the same areas. Source: Tropicaltidbits.com.
Shut Your Mouth! No, really, breathe through your nose, not your mouth, especially if you live in Minnesota, where surface temperatures may fall to -25 to -30F Sunday morning. That's not wind chill, that's the actual air temperature. Bug-killing, relative-alarming cold. ECMWF guidance for Sunday AM: WeatherBell.
What Is The Polar Vortex? NOAA has a very good explainer, separating fact from hype: "...The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the Earth’s poles. It ALWAYS exists near the poles, but weakens in summer and strengthens in winter. The term "vortex" refers to the counter-clockwise flow of air that helps keep the colder air near the Poles. Many times during winter in the northern hemisphere, the polar vortex will expand, sending cold air southward with the jet stream (see graphic above). This occurs fairly regularly during wintertime and is often associated with large outbreaks of Arctic air in the United States. The one that occurred January 2014 is similar to many other cold outbreaks that have occurred in the past, including several notable colder outbreaks in 1977, 1982, 1985 and 1989. There are several things the polar vortex is NOT. Polar vortexes are not something new. The term “polar vortex” has only recently been popularized, bringing attention to a weather feature that has always been present..."

10-Day Snowfall Potential.
NOAA's GFS model prints out a few feet of snow for the highest peaks of
the Rockies and Cascades, with nearly a foot of new snow predicted for
northern Illinois and southern Illinois. Should make for great fun at
O'Hare. Plowable snows are expected from near Denver across the Midwest
and Ohio Valley with lake effect downwind of the Great Lakes. No big
snows for major east coast city centers just yet. Map:
Tropicaltidbits.com
Photo credit: "Apollo 8 Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell said from the moon, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." (NASA).
Map credit: "There are about 30,000 oil spills per year in US waters nationally. This map only shows the spills that have been reported since 2005." WIRED.
What To Watch For When Science Becomes Politicized.
How do we make sound decisions when we all have our own "facts" to
choose from? There's a web site for everyone! Here's an excerpt from Medium: "...There are a large number of people who think that science must have it wrong on a number of fronts. These include:
- the safety and efficacy of vaccines,
- the causal relationship between HIV and AIDS,
- the effectiveness of fluoridated drinking water in reducing tooth decay,
- the fact that human-caused emission of greenhouse gases are causing the Earth to warm,
- or that someone’s sexual orientation is completely determined by their genetic makeup.
Chances
are you have opinions on these matters. Chances are, if there’s an
opinion you have that isn’t mainstream or in alignment with what
scientists think, you have some sort of “conspiracy” argument lined up
already..."
Image credit: "The
global temperature anomaly for the year 2015, the hottest year on
record until 2016 ends and breaks it." Image credit: NSA/GSFC/Scientific
Visualization Studio.
Bill Gates and Investors Worth $170 Billion are Launching a Clean Energy Fund to Fight Climate Change. Here's an excerpt from Quartz: "Bill
Gates is leading a more than $1 billion fund focused on fighting
climate change by investing in clean energy innovation. The Microsoft
co-founder and his all-star line-up of fellow investors plan to announce
tomorrow the Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund,
which will begin making investments next year. The BEV fund, which has a
20-year duration, aims to invest in the commercialization of new
technologies that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in areas including
electricity generation and storage, transportation, industrial
processes, agriculture, and energy-system efficiency..."
Photo credit: "Power player." (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Pool).
File photo credit: Alexandre Buisse via Wikimedia Commons
TODAY: Partly sunny, chilly. Winds: W 8-13. High: 9
TUESDAY NIGHT: Clear to partly cloudy. Low: -7
WEDNESDAY: Some sun, feels like -25F out there. Winds: NW 10-15. High: 5
THURSDAY: More sun, winds ease up. Winds: W 5-10. Wake-up: -9. High: 6
FRIDAY: Plowable snow, icy roads expected. Winds: SE 10-20. Wake-up: 0. High: 15
SATURDAY: Snow tapers, travel slowly improves. Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 5. High: 8
SUNDAY: Subzero daylight. Frostbite risk. Winds: SW 10-15. Wake-up: -18. High: -3
MONDAY: Partly sunny, warming up a bit. Winds: SW 10-15. Wake-up: -10. High: 18
Climate Stories...

Climate Change Will Bring Wetter Storms In The U.S., Study Says. The New York Times has details: "Decades of research (and perhaps your own recent experiences on hot, humid days) have suggested that climate change will lead to an increase in big storms that cause flash floods, landslides and other natural disasters. Now, a new study
shows that such intense precipitation will most likely increase across
the continental United States, but with important regional variations.
The study by scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric
Research in Boulder, Colo., published on Monday in Nature Climate Change,
found that across the country, rainstorms may become more frequent and
intense if greenhouse gas emissions remain at current levels. The
biggest increase would be in the Northeast and the Gulf Coast..."
Photo credit: Brad Birkholz.
Graphic credit: NOAA.
Photo credit: "Climate change campaigners at a demonstration in Paris in Dec. 2015. 688 institutions and nearly 60,000 individuals in 76 countries have divested themselves of shares in at least some kinds of oil, gas and coal companies, according to a new report." Credit Rex Features, via Associated Press.
Once an Oil Executive, Now a Crusader Against Fossil Fuel Stocks. The New York Times has the story.

Local View: How Conservatives Could Address Climate Change. Here's an excerpt of an Op-Ed at the Lincoln Journal-Star: "George Shultz, Secretary of State under Reagan, has offered President-elect Trump advice including an admonition to take climate change seriously. "People who say the climate isn't changing are in the process of getting mugged by reality," said Shultz, referring to Trump's campaign claim that global warming is a hoax, promoted by the Chinese. Shultz supports a revenue neutral carbon tax. Trump appears to have softened his campaign position on climate change, most recently promising to have an "open mind" about it..."
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