(All temperatures converted to celsius in parenthesis for those familiar with that)
Hey guys,
I'm a pretty big fan of weather, and as such, I enjoy coming on here and occasionally posting about the extreme aspects of it that occur around Minnesota, where I reside.
Right now, this extreme weather has to do with extreme cold (and actually quite a bit of snow still up to this point).
For those who only pay attention to the news, which never actually covers our portion of the country for more than 20 seconds, it would probably come as a significant surprise to you that Minnesota has been a snowy brutal icebox this winter. Yea, yea, yea...Minnesota is ALWAYS a snowy icebox in the winter. Sure, it definitely is. We average about 45" of snow in my area of Minnesota, and will frequently get rather cold stretches. That is why I used to term "brutal" ice box to describe this winter so far.
NOVEMBER: For a quick recap, November was a very average month (temperature wise), but much less snowy than average. The temperature averaged 38.9 deg. F (3.8 C), only .1 deg F below average. For snow, we only received 2.8", where the normal is 8.4".
DECEMBER: Now, a rather drastic change happened come the beginning of December. First and foremost, it got snowy. The clipper train had started on the 2nd day of the month, and more or less didn't quit until New Years. We literally received a trace or more of snowfall on 22 out of 31 days, (for a total of 20.4", which is more than double the average). Furthermore, the cold started about the 5th day into the month. We went from average/above average temps to brutal cold. Dec 6th and 7th brought our first two days with highs not even reaching 0 degrees...both were -1 F deg F for a high (-18 C). Unfortunately, when the temperature moderated, it would only be to about 5 degrees F (-15 C) on days between cold streaks, and only because a little snow was making its way through. Dec 11th brought our 3rd day of the month without reaching 0 with yet another high of -1 (-18 C). Dec 15th brought yet another high below zero with -2 (-19 C). Beautiful weather finally arrives. It reaches about 32 degrees (0 C)...but not for long. Dec 23rd and 24th highs struggled to reach 0 once again (they did this time, however), but more significant were the low temps of -19 and -25, respectively (-28 and -32 C). Another short lived warmup came, and it even reached 40 degrees (4 C). To end the month, further brutal cold came. The high on the 30th was 0 degrees (-18 C) and on the 31st -6 degrees (-21 C) (both days had a minimum of -23 or -31 C). This marked 6 days where the high did not pass 0 degrees (-18 C) for the month. While this in and of itself is in no way a record, it is more of the rarity of it happening this many times in one month in todays day and age.
JANUARY: Hoofta, the brutally cold December is finally over. I usually actually like December in Minnesota. With the exception of a few days, it is usually relatively warm (20's...just below 0 C), and we get quite a bit of snow. Fortunately, the month is behind us. Unfortunately, the cold is literally getting worse. Jan 1st brought a high of -2 (-19 C), with a low of -13 (-25 C), and the 2nd brought a high of -2 (-19 C), with a low of -22 (-30 C). That marks 8 days so far with highs of 0 or less. Now, we have the opportunity of being put in a wind chill warning from Saturday night through Tuesday afternoon...what does that mean? Wind chills of less than -35 (-37 C) for 3 straight days. The forecasted high on Sunday is about -15 (-26 C), with a low of around -30 (-34 C), with wind chills around -60 Sunday night (-51 C). The forecasted high on Monday is about -20 (-29 C). If it does indeed only reach that temp, it will tie the coldest high ever recorded in my area of Minnesota in the last ~125 years that records have been kept. Another night of about -20 (-29 C) on Monday night, followed by another high of about -5 (-21 C) on Tuesday. Wednesday is still on the verge, but may ALSO struggle to reach 0 degrees (at least one model has it only getting to -1). After all of this happens, we will be at 11 (potentially 12) days so far this year where highs do not exceed 0 degrees. A normal winter will only bring zero to a couple days with highs that are subzero. Absolutely ridiculous.
So is there any good news in sight? Fortunately, sort of. After this super brutal cold gets out of our way, temperatures are actually supposed to moderate for a while (at least likely through the middle of the month). So why only sort of? Well, a lot of the long term models are really starting to hone in on the exact same thing occurring later in the month (the polar vortex diving down into MN, that is). If this does occur, we will very likely see additionally subzero days of just brutal cold. Not only are models showing this, but longer term models are showing an extremely similar pattern this February-April as what we had last winter. What was so spectacular about last winter? Well, besides the fact that we got the most snow ever from Feb-Apr, had 2-3 giant snowstorms (as in 12-24" snowstorms) go through the state in April, and another 12-20" snowstorm go through the state in the beginning of May, nothing really. In other words...models are lining it up to be a prolonged winter, aka prolonged cold weather.
Anybody else currently experiencing this stupid cold, I really hope all is going well with you, cause I know it sucks from my perspective. Any others, feel free to comment.
The governor already announced that K-12 schooling for the entire state has been cancelled for Monday. Hope everybody stays warm!
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