Weather in Minneapolis in January

The month to avoid. January is the month most people should skip in Minneapolis. Highs sit at -5.6 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

January ranks 9 of 12 in Minneapolis: past the worst of the year but short of September, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain falls on only 4 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at -5.6 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 31 nights drop below freezing, so anything left outside stays frozen. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 9.2 °C and the coldest night fell to -38.6 °C.

January is moderately variable: 5 mm in the driest year against 36 mm in the wettest, around an average of 18 mm. Roughly two Januarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 11.2 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 88%, which at -5.6 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How January sits in the year

This is a turning point in the year — December and February sit on opposite sides of it, so the month contains the change rather than following it.

Daylight in January

January sits at the dark end of Minneapolis's year — 9.1 hours of daylight against 15.6 at midsummer, gaining 0.8 hours across the month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

An inland climate

Minneapolis has no sea to moderate it, and it shows: 43.8 °C separates the hottest afternoon of the year from the coldest night. That is a genuinely continental range, and it means summer and winter here are barely the same place.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

January in Minneapolis versus nearby

If Minneapolis is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Sioux Falls is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.9 °C warmer, 1 day less rain. Des Moines is close enough to be a coin toss — 4.9 °C warmer, 1 day more rain.

So: January is a compromise. September is 50 points better and is what Minneapolis is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Minneapolis

See all twelve months in Minneapolis, or where else to go in January.