Minnesota WeatherTalk

Climate Summary for October of 2025: For the 5th consecutive year October was warmer than normal across Minnesota. Average monthly temperatures were from 5°F to 6°F warmer than normal. On a statewide basis, this makes October of 2025 the 8th warmest since 1895. During the first week of the month, over 30 climate stations reported at least one day with a 90°F or higher maximum temperature. Also, during the first week, over 95 new daily high maximum temperature records and over 100 new daily high minimum temperature records were set within the state climate station network. Widespread frosts occurred only on October 7-8, and again over October 23-24. Extremes for the month were 94°F at Granite Falls (Yellow Medicine County) on October 3rd and just 16°F at Brimson (St Louis County) on October 24. Rainfall for October was below normal across nearly all of Minnesota, except the northwestern counties. Climate stations in Roseau, Hallock, Warroad, Thorhult, and Karlstad reported over ...

A Cool, Wet, and Windy Week in October: Since last Friday, the weather has been much more like past autumn seasons. Many daytime high temperatures have been in the 40s and low 50s F, with multiple nights of frosts. In fact, nearly all areas of the state have now seen at least one frost for the month. Temperatures are expected to rebound to above normal levels for the weekend, then return to near normal levels or slightly above normal levels for the remaining October days next week. This past week also brought multiple days with rain, mostly smaller amounts. Many northern areas reported over an inch of rain, while Canadian border climate stations like International Falls, Little Fork, and Baudette reported over 2 inches of rain. Some north-central and northeastern climate stations also reported a trace of snow, and an observer near International Falls reported 0.1 inches of snowfall on Thursday morning (October 23). Despite the rainfall, the area of Moderate Drought in central Mi...

October Weather Update and Lake Superior Climate: Since last Friday, a number of days have brought some rainfall to the state. Many climate stations have reported between a half inch and an inch of rainfall over this time period. A number of communities also reported over an inch of rain during the week. Despite these widespread rainfalls, the area of Moderate Drought (mostly in central Minnesota) expanded from 12 percent to 19 percent of the landscape. Though it has been cooler this week, October average temperatures are still running from 5°F to 8°F above normal across the state. The climate outlooks still favor generally above normal temperatures for the balance of October as well. As such, this will mark our 5th consecutive warmer than normal October in Minnesota. Further, there are still a number of areas of the state (mostly southern half) that have yet to record their first autumn frost. For leaf peepers, still plenty of fall color to see in the central and southern part...

October Weather Update: Since last week’s Minnesota WeatherTalk Blog, there have been three significant episodes of Minnesota weather to report on: record heat episode that extended from October 3rd to October 5th; the first rainfall amounts of the month, coming over October 5-6; and then the first widespread frosts of the month coming over October 7 and 8. The weekend of October 3-5 brought brisk south winds, plenty of sunshine and record heat to many areas of the state. Within the state climate network, over 90 stations reported setting new record daily maximum temperatures on at least one day. Observers in 16 counties reported afternoon high temperatures of 90°F or greater, including 92°F at Redwood Falls and Lamberton. In addition, over the weekend there were at least 60 reports of record-setting warm daily overnight temperatures, including 72°F at MSP on the 4th and 70°F at Cass Lake on the 5th. Following the weekend heat, showers and thunderstorms moved across the state later...

A Warm Start to October: Continuing the trend of late September (September of 2025 was among the 5 or 6 warmest in history on a statewide basis), October has started very warm for Minnesota. Many climate stations reported afternoon temperatures in the 80s F to start the month. Crookston (Polk County) reported a record-tying high temperature of 86°F on October 1st. Then, on October 2nd, 80°F temperatures were even more widespread across the state. Glencoe (McLeod County) set a record high temperature with 87°F, while both Redwood Falls (Redwood County) and St James (Watonwan County) hit 90°F. It appears that the very warm temperatures will last through the first weekend of the month, with some days bringing 90°F temperatures or higher. The weather pattern will chance on Monday with temperatures falling back closer to normal through the middle of next week. On balance, most of the weather guidance favors above normal temperatures to dominate most of October, though probably not re...