Delayed and canceled school is almost certain in many parts of central and northern Minnesota, however.

“Up north, they’re really getting pounded,” Harrington said.

Along with cold that’s substantially worse than here, northern Minnesotans are dealing with winter storms and blizzards, closed highways and as much as 12 to 16 inches of snow.

So there’s another way to look at the wintery weather that arrived so suddenly Sunday — with thankful hearts.

“It could have been much worse,” said Harrington, who expected the Mankato area to get no more than a couple of inches of snow. “We’re still going to have to deal with the cold and wind, but we don’t have a foot of snow to dig through.”