Viewers in parts of the South and West might get a better view, but a partial eclipse of the sun will be visible -- weather permitting -- in Minnesota beginning after 7 p.m. Sunday until it sets at roughly 8:40 p.m. But don't look directly at it! Columnist and local amateur astronomer Mike Lynch has a helpful diagram of how to watch the event using the pinhole projection method.

An impressive meteor shower called the Quadrantids is set to hit the northern atmosphere from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday. You might see up to a meteor a minute if you're far enough from city lights and hardy enough to get up at that hour.

Punxsutawney has Phil, but what does the weather in central Pennsylvania have to do with Minnesota? The Twin Cities have Stanley and the official local groundhog could not see his shadow through all the fog. If large rodents are any predictor, Minnesota's winter, such as it is, will end early.