Significant Late Winter Storm: A very large-scale late winter storm moved across the midsection of the USA this week, bringing widespread strong winds and thunderstorms to many states, even tornadoes to Oklahoma, and a mixture of precipitation to southern and eastern portions of Minnesota. Many areas of Minnesota reported over 6 inches of snowfall, and over an inch of precipitation on Wednesday night (March 5) into Thursday morning (March 6).. Some observers reported over 10 inches. There were several reports of wind gusts over 40 mph, and a few over 50 mph: Jackson reported 56 mph wind gust Worthington 54 mph wind gust Rochester 52 mph wind gust There were widespread school closures by Thursday morning, and several highways in southwestern and south-central Minnesota were closed due to poor visibility from blizzard conditions or large mounds of drifted snow. From the Minnesota long-term climate station network there were a few new record daily snowfall amounts reported for March 7...
Climate Summary for February: Average monthly temperatures for February were cool, from 3°F to 5°F below normal in most areas of the state. About two-thirds of the days brought cooler than normal readings, and the number of subzero nights ranged from 11 in southern counties to as much as 20 nights in the north. Minnesota reported the coldest temperature in the nation on six mornings this month. Temperatures ranged from -41°F at Ely on the 17th to 59°F at Fairmont on the 23rd and at Winnebago on the 24th. Many southern and western climate stations reported afternoon high temperatures in the 50s F during the last week of the month. Milan (Chippewa County) reported a new record daily high temperature of 55°F on the 23rd and Hastings Dam (Dakota County) reported a new record daily high temperature of 51°F on the 25th. In contrast, earlier in the month when subzero temperatures prevailed 50 Minnesota climate stations reported setting new daily low minimum temperature records. In terms ...