Friday Evening Northland Forecast: 1/17/2025

Extreme Cold Warning

The National Weather Service is using a new product this winter, called an Extreme Cold Warning. It’s pretty self-explanatory. And they have issued one for most of the Northland, which will be in effect from 6pm Saturday night, til Noon on Tuesday. It includes all of the FOX 21 TV viewing area in northern MN and WI, but it does not include any part of the U.P. of MI. Over the next 4-5 days, we will have highs below zero, and lows well below zero, with windchills as bitter cold as -40 and -50. So, you get the idea. Either be prepared for the weather the next few days, or just stay home. It will literally be dangerous to venture outside, if you’re not ready for it.

Our high temp on Friday in Duluth was 35 degrees, which felt fantastic. We may not see a high in the 30s again for two weeks. The normal high for today is only 19 degrees. Two cold fronts have passed over the area, and very strong NW winds are now ushering in bitterly cold arctic air, with wind speeds of 40mph or more. Wind speeds on the North Shore may reach 50mph this weekend, bringing dangerous windchills down to -40 or -50. The supercold air will be with us all the way thru Tuesday. By Wednesday, we will finally get above 0 degrees, with a high of 13. That will feel absolutely tropical, after we get thru the next four days.

So, dress in many heavy layers and be smart this weekend, and into next week. We are all going to get thru this together! Bundle up, my friends!

FOX 21 Meteorologist Karl Spring