Minnesota WeatherTalk

Preliminary Climate Summary for March: The story of temperature this month in Minnesota is the great range and disparity between northern Minnesota and southern Minnesota. Average monthly temperatures ranged from just 2°F above normal in some northern communities to 7°F in many southern Minnesota communities. Temperatures ranged from -20°F at Seagull Like (Cook County) on the 2nd to 87°F at Sherburn (Martin County) on the 28th. 28th. In fact, that was a new statewide high temperature record on March 28th, to go along with the new statewide high temperatures set earlier this month on the 10th (77°F at Granite Falls) and the 14th (79°F at Winona). Within the statewide long-term climate station network, over 150 new daily high maximum temperature records were set during the month, with several locations reporting highs of 70°F or greater. In addition, over 40 climate stations reported at least one new record warm overnight minimum temperature record being set. Among those long-term ...

 Climate roller coaster continues this month: It has already been a wild ride weatherwise through the first three weeks of this March. Statewide extremes have been 79°F at Winona airport on the 14th and -20°F at Seagull Lake (Cook County) on the 2nd. Many maximum daily temperature records have been set this month, including two new statewide records (77°F at Granite Falls on the 10th, and 79°F at Winona airport on the 14th). In addition, a number of snowfall records have been set as well, most notably on March 4th, 5th, 17th, and 18th. Even this week, on Wednesday the 19th, a number of southern Minnesota communities were under a blizzard warning, and several observers reported record daily snowfalls, including: 9.0 inches at Spring Valley (Fillmore County) 7.5 inches at Grand Meadow (Mower County) 7.3 inches at Hokah (Houston County) 6.8 inches at Caledonia (Houston County) 4.0 inches at Albert Lea (Freeborn County) The month has already brought a number of days with Red Flag W...

March 10th Record Warmth: Monday, March 10 was one for the record books in Minnesota, as over 50 long term climate stations (mostly western counties) reported setting new high daily maximum temperatures. Duluth set a record of 62°F and St Cloud set a record of 69°F. MSP just missed tying the record high for the date (66°F) reaching 65°F in the late afternoon. Several readings of 70°F or greater were reported from western Minnesota, where snow cover was sparse or nonexistent. Redwood Falls set a new all-time statewide record high for the date with a reading of 75°F. Milan, Marshall, and Lamberton all reached 73°F. A few locations in western Minnesota also set new daily records for warm minimum temperatures. For example, the low at Canby (Yellow Medicine County) was a record warm 38°F. In addition, there were unusually low afternoon relative humidity readings ranging from just 15 to 19 percent for a few hours, and winds were gusting to 30 mph or greater for a time. This was ca...

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...