Dangerous Wind Chills Forecast For Rochester Area
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - Southern Minnesota is headed into the deep freeze. A storm system responsible for yesterday’s slick conditions is pulling a mass of Arctic air into the state and dangerously cold wind chills are expected to develop tonight.
The National Weather Service is predicting that temperatures in the Rochester area will fall through the day tomorrow and bottom out in the minus teens Friday morning. The high temperature on Friday may struggle to reach zero. The frigid air will also be accompanied by gusty northwest winds that could produce wind chills as cold as 35-degrees below zero before calmer conditions develop early Friday.
The winds, which could gust above 35 mph on Thursday, could also result in blizzard-like conditions in the region. The National Weather Service has posted a Blizzard Warning for areas of southern Minnesota west of I-35 that also covers a large area of western Minnesota. The Rochester area, along with most of southeastern Minnesota, will be under a Winter Weather Advisory from 4 AM to 6 PM on Thursday.
Colder than normal temperatures are predicted to stick around into next week. The long-range forecast shows high temperatures may get above 10-degree is in the Rochester area this weekend, but by next Tuesday the daytime high is only expected to reach zero.