Alert archive / Minnesota / Extreme Cold Watches in 2026

Extreme Cold Watch 1, NWS Twin Cities, MN

January 20, 202642 counties in Minnesota; 9 counties in Wisconsin

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this extreme cold watch at Jan 20, 2026, 12:57 PM CST for 42 counties in Minnesota; 9 counties in Wisconsin. It took effect at Jan 23, 2026, 12:00 PM CST. It was in force for .

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 20, 2026, 12:57 PM CST (18:57 UTC)
In effect from: Jan 23, 2026, 12:00 PM CST
Expired: Jan 22, 2026, 9:46 AM CST
In force
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN

All 51 counties

Anoka County, MN, Benton County, MN, Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Carver County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Chisago County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Douglas County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Goodhue County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Isanti County, MN, Kanabec County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Martin County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Mille Lacs County, MN, Morrison County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Pope County, MN, Ramsey County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rice County, MN, Scott County, MN, Sherburne County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Steele County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Todd County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Washington County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Wright County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN, Barron County, WI, Chippewa County, WI, Dunn County, WI, Eau Claire County, WI, Pepin County, WI, Pierce County, WI, Polk County, WI, Rusk County, WI, Saint Croix County, WI

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:57 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 363 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 864 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 124 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 170 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this extreme cold watch went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this extreme cold watch went out at Jan 20, 12:16 PM CST, 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 20, 12:16 PM CST, 41 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 20, 3:08 AM CST, 9 hours 49 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 20, 1:51 PM CST	Winter Weather Advisory	MPX	Anoka, Blue Earth, Brown, Carver, Chippewa, Chisago and 29 more	30 hr

Nearby

Extreme Cold Watches in Minnesota, 2026 Extreme Cold Watches in Wisconsin, 2026 Every extreme cold watch in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.