Brace Yourself: Wind Chills In Minnesota Later This Week Will Drop To Extreme Lows

January in Minnesota has the reputation of being the bitterly cold month of the year, and it looks like this year it will be living up to that reputation once again.

While we got a mini-dose of subzero temperatures and wind chill values well below zero to start this week, it is going to get a lot colder at the end of this week.

The National Weather Service offices that provide weather updates around Minnesota have all started to put the warning out about the dangerously cold temperatures lurking at the end of this weekend as our arctic blast gets even worse.

How cold are we talking? Creeping toward historically cold territory.

What are the coldest wind chills ever recorded in Minnesota?

As the Minnesota DNR points out, this is kind of a complicated question to answer. Part of the reason is that the way wind chill is calculated was changed in 2001. In addition, there isn't complete historical temperature and wind data to give us a thorough look at wind chills over the years.

READ MORE: New Types Of Weather Alerts Expected To Be Used In Minnesota During Arctic Cold

Because of that, numbers now aren't an apples-for-apples comparison with numbers prior to 2001, and there isn't a complete record of all of the frigid lows seen in Minnesota.

Converting old data available, the Minnesota DNR says the coldest wind chill they're aware of that was recorded in the Twin Cities was -67, which happened on January 22, 1936.

Within the frigid reaches of Northern Minnesota, there is an even less complete dataset as you go back through the years, so giving a definitive answer for what Northern Minnesota's coldest wind chill has been is difficult. That said, the coldest wind chill on record (converting the data using the new formula) was -71, which happened on January 9-10, 1982.

How cold will wind chills get in Minnesota this week?

While -71 isn't currently in the forecast, we won't be all that far away in parts of Minnesota for Friday and into the weekend.

When wind chills to levels they're expected to reach this weekend, frostbite can happen in a matter of minutes. Hypothermia is another health risk that being out in the cold can bring with it in short periods of time if not properly dressed. These same health risks are also concerns for pets.

Besides those risks, the potential of frozen pipes, issues with car batteries, and other cold-weather impacts are likely this weekend.

Unsurprisingly, Northern Minnesota looks like it will be the coldest spot in the state. The Duluth National Weather Service is calling for wind chills that could get as low as nearly -60 in Grand Marais during the coldest part of the day. Some of the coldest wind chills they are predicting include:

• Grand Marais, MN: Thursday -50, Friday -57, Saturday -47
• Duluth, MN: Thursday -42, Friday -51, Saturday -45
• International Falls, MN: Thursday -47, Friday -55, Saturday -51
• Hibbing, MN: Thursday -45, Friday -52, Saturday -47
• Brainerd, MN: Thursday -38, Friday -44, Saturday -32
• Grand Rapids, MN: Thursday -42, Friday -50, Saturday -36

The Twin Cities National Weather Service office is pointing to some pretty frigid wind chills for Central and Southeastern Minnesota areas as well. Some of the coldest wind chills include:

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• Alexandria, MN: Thursday -38, Friday 47, Saturday -37
• Willmar, MN: Thursday -32, Friday 42, Saturday -31
• Twin Cities: Thursday -25, Friday -34, Saturday -25
• Albert Lea, MN: Thursday -23, Friday -37, Saturday -30

Southwestern Minnesota could see wind chills as cold as -40, according to the outlook from the Sioux Falls National Weather Service. Here are some of the areas they anticipate the coldest wind chills:

• Marshall, MN: Thursday -28, Friday -40, Saturday -28
• Pipestone, MN: Thursday -25, Friday -37, Saturday -31
• Worthington, MN: Thursday -24, Friday -37, Saturday -27

After this arctic blast, things don't look like they will warm up much. The end of the weekend and early parts of next week, temperatures will get (barely) above zero across the state, but getting into the 20s or warmer doesn't look too likely for several days yet for most of the state.