Minnesota WeatherTalk

Preliminary Climate Summary for February 2021: Very cold and dry are the appropriate words for the month of February. Most climate stations report a mean monthly temperature that ranges from 8 to 11 degrees F colder than normal. For the 10-day interval from February 6-10 most places in the state saw a mean temperature that was subzero, ranging from about -3°F at Winona to colder than -20°F in northern locations like Babbitt, Ely, Embarrass, Cotton, Baudette, Tower, Orr, and Warren. Minnesota reported the coldest temperature in the 48 contiguous states at least 10 time during the month, including a new statewide record low of -50°F at Ely 25E on February 13. Within the state’s climate network, there were 152 daily low minimum temperature records tied or set, and another 277 daily low maximum temperature records tied or set. Extreme temperatures for the month ranged from 51°F at Browns Valley (Traverse County) on the 23rd to -50°F near Ely (St Louis County) on the 13th. Over 60 clim

February Cold in Historical Perspective: Last week I mentioned that February 6-15, 2021 brought the 5th coldest ever 10-day February period of weather (mean temperature -5.4°F) to the Twin Cities (back to 1873). Several people wanted to know how the first half of February (1-15) ranked historically. Some preliminary calculations show: Statewide mean temperature for February 1-15 was -2.4°F. This ranks 9th coldest in history for the first half of the month dating back to 1895. There have been 16 years when the first half of February brought a statewide mean temperature that was subzero, the most recent before this year was in 2014 when the first half of the month average -0.4°F. The coldest first half of February all time was in 1936 with a statewide mean temperature of -12.3°F. For the Twin Cities climate record (back to 1873) the first half of this February averaged 2.7°F, about 16 degrees colder than normal. This ranks as the 11th coldest first half of February. The coldest f