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Rochester, MN (KROC AM News) -  Southeast Minnesota will be stuck in a polar vortex all week.

In fact, bitterly cold weather is expected to continue at least through Sunday. Low temperatures are expected to be well below zero and highs may not reach 10 degrees all week.

 

Rochester has been below zero since early Saturday. Sunday’s high was -5 after a morning low of -20, which missed the record for the date by just one degree. It was nearly twice as cold in NE Minnesota Sunday morning. Lows dropped to -36 in International Falls and Embarrass.

Rochester may enter the record books as far as cold temperatures are concerned.

If Rochester fails to get above 10 degrees by Sunday, it will be one of the coldest streaks on record. The National Weather Service says the longest streak of maximum daily temperatures of less than 10 degrees is 15 days, set in 1912. The last time Rochester had a streak of 8 days without reaching 10 degrees was 1994.

Although it will be cold this week, it won’t even be close to what the Rochester area experienced in 1996.

The NWS calls it the “Arctic Outbreak of Feb. 1 - 4, 1996."

The NWS says Rochester’s temperatures stayed below zero from the morning of Jan. 29th until midnight on Feb. 5th. All-time record low temperatures were set in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

The coldest was -60 in Tower, Minnesota the morning of Feb 4th.

News update: A Minnesota pedestrian was killed Saturday night.

GALLERY: Remembering Past Minnesota Winters

 

 

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