Frigid temperature and wind chill will delay or shorten some outdoor athletic events Saturday, but the Winter Carnival King Boreas Grande Day Parade will go on as planned, according to carnival organizers.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for temperatures dropping to -12 to -15 degrees tonight and early Saturday morning in the Twin Cities. That and 10- to 15-mile-per-hour winds from northwest will result in a -25 to -30 degree wind chill and a wind chill advisory until around noon.
Winds are expected to slacken off after that, but temperature will only climb to 2 to 3 degrees Saturday before dropping to -14 to -18 Saturday night and early Sunday morning. A high of 5 to 6 degrees is expected Sunday.
Temperatures will gradually start to climb on Monday.
The expected cold did prompt an announcement that the Securian Half Marathon running race, a Winter Carnival event scheduled at 9 a.m. Saturday in downtown St. Paul, will be shortened to a quarter-marathon distance for the safety of the participants and volunteers.
Also, the start time for the Governor’s Cup, a 25-kilometer cross country ski race at Camp Ripley on Saturday, will be pushed back from 11 a.m. to noon.
But Winter Carnival officials said the 2 p.m. King Boreas Grande Day Parade in downtown St. Paul will go on as planned.
Earlier today, strong winds kicked up along the southwestern edge of the state. Sections of U.S. Highways 19 and 71 near Redwood Falls closed for a few hours due to whiteout conditions brought on by blowing snow.
Those sections re-opened by mid-afternoon Friday. A few area schools let students out early due to the weather.
The Redwood County Sheriff’s Department reports that several vehicles and at least seven tractor-trailers went into the ditches near Belview, Delhi and Vesta.
This story contains information from the Associated Press.
Copyright 2009 Pioneer Press.
