Good morning, Minnesota! Remember that new Strib podcast we told you about last week? It has finally arrived and you can listen to the first two episodes here 🎙️On to the news 📢
This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Vikings. And yet here we are, rooting for the team as it makes its fifth playoff appearance in a decade.
Will Justin Jefferson, Sam Darnold and the gang make it to the big game? The Vikings need to get past a litany of teams that resembles a mythical creature — something like a cross between a chimera and a manticore.
A win against the L.A. Rams tonight means the Vikings face off against the Philadelphia Eagles. And after that, if the Detroit Lions top the Washington Commanders, it's a rematch for the ages as the Vikings take on Detroit for the third time since late October.
How did we get here? The Minnesota Star Tribune Sports Desk has you covered there at the link below, along with a profile of cornerback Khyree Jackson and a bit of analysis from Jim Souhan.
Minnesota winters are back, baby. We've got a Guinness world-record-holding ice maze as proof that, at least in 2025, the cold season is living up to its promise.
The frozen labyrinth, the centerpiece of the Minnesota Ice Festival at TCO Stadium in Eagan, notched the record over the weekend, Nicole Norfleet reports.
Your friendly neighborhood newsletter writer spent a couple of hours there on opening day and believe me: You'll want to take your time at the facility. In addition to the ice skating rinks, ice bars and food carts on-site, the maze itself rewards visitors who explore every one of its dead ends.
When it’s really cold in Minnesota, remember to look up. The depths of winter can offer some beautiful and unusual phenomena in the sky, beyond the northern lights.
Light pillars, sun dogs and moon dogs sometimes provide spectacular shows, thanks to ice crystals in the atmosphere. They’re another natural perk of living where we do, and they’re all explained in today’s installment of This Week in Nature.
Take a look at this lonely road. It's the only road I've ever known. Don't know where it goes, but it's home to me and I walk alone.
Today's Minnesota Goodbye comes to us courtesy of reader Tim Keran, who snapped this shot of the snowmobile tracks outside his cabin near Beaver Dam Lake in Cumberland, Wis. (No filters, either, as he told me via email.)
Winter is so back.
If you have an image you'd like to share for the Minnesota Goodbye, drop us a line at essential@startribune.com.
