Hot chocolate and coffee by the hundreds of gallons are being prepared at Target Field, where baseball's hottest stars and tens of thousands of fans confront two nights of temperatures sure to reinforce what the rest of America already knows about Minnesota: It can get cold here.

Sure to be mislabeled Monday as a "high," the Twin Cities forecast from the National Weather Service (NWS) is calling for a warmup of no better than 63 degrees. Then it's down the thermometer from there and most assuredly into the low 50s Monday night as baseball's musclemen compete in the Home Run Derby at Target Field.

Tuesday's All-Star Game should see a daytime warmup to about 70 for a high. But as the game rolls along amid many a pitching change, it's back into the low 50s again, the NWS envisions.

"State of Occlusion," a blog run by a Texas meteorologist who takes a look at the weather somewhat sideways, sees Tuesday's All-Star Game as having a shot to be the coldest ever.

"We'll need to see game time temperatures hit 57 or lower," the blog reported, crowning the 1984 game in San Francisco as the coldest with a temperature of 57. "It's going to be a close call."

No doubt, MLB had no worries the next year, with the 1985 Midsummer Classic going under the climate-controlled Dome in Minneapolis.

Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Nick Wilz, left, and Ryan Rowland, members of the ground crew at Target Field, painted the MLB All-Star logo.

For the here and now, Chris Iles, a spokesman for the star-hosting Minnesota Twins, said the team will have "plenty of hot chocolate and coffee on hand" the next two nights.

As planners planned roof-free Target Field before its 2010 opening, thoughts of April outdoor baseball inspired the idea of heating portions of the ball park.

And even though this is July, "We will make use of our radiant heating machines located in the concourses throughout the ballpark," Iles said Monday.

Otherwise, there's nothing else for Target Field's operators to do in anticipation of what could be called "Back to the 50s" nights at the stadium.

"Low 50s aren't that bad," Iles said. "We've played in way colder temps."

It's Minnesota. Of course they have.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482