Updated at 4:11 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3.

St. Thomas officials announced Friday afternoon that the university would be closed on Monday except for emergency essential employees.

The National Weather Service is forecasting the lowest temperatures in at least a decade Monday, with air temperatures that could reach as low as -30 degrees and high temperatures only reaching the minus teens.

Susan Huber, executive vice president and provost, made the decision Friday after consulting with other area universities and learning that Gov. Mark Dayton would close K-12 schools throughout Minnesota Monday.

“With high temperatures expected to be 15 below in the Twin Cities area on Monday and wind chills far more severe, it makes sense to close the university and have as many people as possible stay home,” Huber said.

St. Thomas officials said earlier in the day that with fewer students on campus and waiting outside in the cold for buses unnecessary, the university wasn’t yet planning to close but would continue to evaluate the situation.

According to a press release issued by the university Friday, the closing will affect about 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled for January Term classes at St. Thomas. St. Catherine and Hamline University also will be closed.

The university also announced Friday that both the men’s and women’s basketball games scheduled for Monday are postponed until Jan. 13.

Gov. Dayton’s statewide school cancellation was the first time that a Minnesota governor closed schools in response to cold weather since January 16, 1997. According to the State Climatology Office, former Gov. Arne Carlson called off classes that day as temperatures reached minus-32 in the Twin Cities.

Carlson also closed schools statewide on Feb. 2, 1996. That’s the day that a state record low was set, according to the Climatology Office, when the air temperature hit minus-60 near the northern Minnesota town of Tower. Carlson first closed schools on Jan. 18, 1994, as temperatures hit 26 below in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota law gives the governor the power to “authorize the commissioner of education to alter school schedules, curtail school activities or order school closed,” according to the language of the statute.

State officials urge Minnesotans to be prepared for extreme low temperatures by having a plan in case of power or furnace outages or other unforeseen circumstances.