Minnesota WeatherTalk

Preliminary Climate Summary for October 2020: Historically this will be known as one of the coldest and snowiest Octobers in history. The average October temperature was 6 to 7 degrees F cooler than normal, with over two-thirds of the days bringing cooler than normal daytime temperatures. With the state climate station network 72 daily low minimum temperature records were set or tied, and 275 daily cold high temperature records were set or tied. Many days, especially during the second half of the month brought daytime high temperatures that remained in the 20s and 30s F. This pattern caused early ice formation in many area lakes. The extremes for the month were 90°F at Granite Falls (Chippewa County) on the 9th and just 2°F at Lamberton (Redwood County) and Brimson (St Louis County) on the 27th. Based on average month temperature, MSP reported the 9th coldest October in history, while on a statewide basis it was the 6th coldest October in history, and the coldest since 2002. Most

October 18-22, 2020 will be noted in the history books of Minnesota as one of the coldest and snowiest 5-day periods in October. Despite an abundance of cloud cover over this period, temperatures have been exceptionally cold for this time of year, running from 12 to 18 degrees F below normal, especially daytime highs. On the 20th of October this week Orr, MN reported the coldest temperature in the nation with a reading of 9°F. But the widespread significant snowfall has captured most of the media and public attention, starting a very early snow shoveling and snowplowing season. Several new daily snowfall records were set at long-term climate stations by the storm over October 20-21 including: 7.9” at MSP; 7.0” at St Cloud, 6.9” at Willmar, 6.5” at Redwood Falls, 6.4” at Jordan and Bird Island, 6.0” at Marshall, Red Wing Dam, Hastings, and Dawson, 5.8” at Duluth and Milan, 5.7” at Browns Valley and Brainerd, and 5.5” at Wabasha. Other locations not included in the long-term climate stat

Sunday Night Soaker: Following a mostly drier than normal September, most places in Minnesota needed a good rainfall, not only for native vegetation, but to reduce fire risk in some area. That rainfall came Sunday night over October 11-12. Over a hundred of the state’s climate stations reported a rainfall between 1-2 inches, mostly coming at night. Portions of Washington, Dakota, Rice, Nicollet, Blue Earth, Pine, and Kandiyohi Counties received over 2 inches. For many long term climate stations new record daily rainfall amounts were reported, including: Hastings 1.90” Cloquet 1.88” Milaca 1.80” Lakefield 1.45” Floodwood 1.44” Windom 1.12” Winnebago and Jordan 1.43” Long Prair[e 1.29” Portions of western Minnesota were left out of this beneficial rainfall and only reported less than a tenth of an inch. Winter Season Outlooks: I would describe the recent NOAA Climate Prediction Center winter season outlooks for the state as somewhat timid. For most of the November though March peri

Hello readers: WeatherTalk will not be published today, October 9. The next WeatherTalk will be available on Friday, October 16.

Year To Date Precipitation: Last year (2019) was the wettest year in history for Minnesota with a statewide average precipitation of 35.66 inches, about 28 percent higher than the long-term annual mean for the state of 27.92 inches. I thought for perspective we could look at statistics for the first nine months (Jan-Sep) of 2020 and examine the values of precipitation. On a statewide basis the first 9 months of 2020 delivered an average of 21.21 inches, down from the first 9-months of last year which was 28.45 inches. For the year so far most climate stations in the state are reporting less than average precipitation, and some places are exceptionally dry. These include: Duluth with 15.04 inches for Jan-Sep, the 3rd driest all-time (trailing 1918 and 1934) Windom (Cottonwood County) with 17.55 inches for Jan-Sep, 13th driest in history Pipestone with 17.14 inches for Jan-Sep, 13th driest in history Canby (Yellow Medicine County) with 15.16 inches for Jan-Sep, 7th driest in history