Forecast Cold Already Leading to School Closures

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Snow forecast for this weekend and extreme cold expected early next week have led Rochester, Austin and Winona public schools to cancel classes for Monday, and other Minnesota school districts are thinking about it.

A storm system is expected to hit Saturday night and continue Sunday, with high winds packing the possibility of blizzard or white-out conditions in parts of southern Minnesota.

Behind the snow will come some of Minnesota's coldest air of the winter with lows of 20 to 25 degrees below zero and wind chills in the minus-35 to minus-50 range, comparable to the polar vortex that gripped Minnesota Jan. 6-7.

Several Twin Cities area school districts, including St. Paul, Edina and Mounds View, have said they plan to decide by Sunday evening whether to close on Monday.