Staff photo by Fritz Busch Motorists use headlights while driving in dense fog on 3rd St. S. in New Ulm Friday. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a dense fog advisory with visibility one quarter mile or less until midnight Friday. The NWS advised drivers to slow down, use headlights and leave plenty of distance ahead of them.

NEW ULM — If you like colder winter weather, you’ll probably get your wish after New Year’s Eve.

“We’ve had this slow progression of warm Pacific air working it’s way across the country. It produces fog as it runs over Midwest snow,” said Chanhassen National Weather Service Meteorologist Joe Strus.

A dense fog advisory with visibility of one quarter mile or less was forecast until midnight Friday for Brown, McLeod, Renville, Sibley, Martin, Nicollet, Watonan and Redwood Counties.

The NWS urges drivers to slow down, use headlights and leave plenty of distance ahead of themselves during foggy conditions.

“The weekend gets a wet, foggy start with fog all the way from New Ulm to Brainerd. The New Ulm area may get a brief period of Saturday afternoon sunshine as the fog tracks east,” he said.

Strus said Pacific air often moves around quite a big in the jet stream this time of year.

“Last winter, it kept us pretty mild with multiple weeks in the 40s and 50s. It looks like something in between last winter and normal winter weather this year with a dominating scenario of warm and cold temperatures. Expect variability. We’ll get periods of pretty cold and warmer air over then next few months,” he said.

Saturday’s weather forecast is a high of 45 degrees and a low of 31 degrees. Sunday’s forecast high is 39 degrees, 36 degrees Monday and 27 degrees Tuesday. Daily highs in the teens are forecast Thursday, Jan. 2 through Friday, Jan. 10. Nightly lows are in the single digits throughout the period.

Strus said the NWS Climate Prediction Center forecasts slightly below average daily high temperatures (mid to high 20s) through the first and second week of January and normal precipitation.

Not much precipitation is forecast in the coming two weeks.

“Three weeks out and beyond, temperatures lean a bit below normal for Minnesota,” he said.

The NWS predicts slightly above normal temperatures in the Midwest through March.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts colder and snowier than average conditions for January and February.