A wind chill warning issued by the National Weather Service is in effect through noon Tuesday for the St. Cloud area.

According to MN-DOT, Highway 15 is closed in both directions between Highway 55 in Kimball and I-94 in St. Cloud due to blizzard like conditions.

St. Cloud State Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Bob Weisman says Monday’s temperatures will bottom out near -20 degrees during the morning hours.  Monday’s high will only creep to around negative 10.

Weisman says northwest winds will peak at 20 MPH. These cold temperatures and persistent winds will produce wind chills in the -40’s to -50’s in the morning hours.  Yesterday’s highest wind gust in St. Cloud hit 46 MPH according to Weisman. The wind chill will let up a bit in the afternoon hours to 40 to -25.

SCSU’s Weisman says St. Cloud has a shot at setting a record cold high temperature for Monday.  The current record of -14 was set back in 1966.