Unprecedented Winter Weather In Minnesota: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience

No one living in Minnesota has ever experienced a winter like this before. Oh, it's happened before, just not in any of our our lifetimes.

The last winter that didn't happen in Minnesota was all the way back in 1877-1878. That's a whopping 145 years ago. In 1877-78 they had about two weeks of actual winter weather. Here in 2023-24, we've had about ten days of it.

Meteorological winter runs from December 1st through the end of February, which means we're only 19 days away from the start of meteorological spring.

Get our free mobile app

According to Minnesota's State Climatology Office, most of the state has had less that 25% of normal snowfall. In addition to the lack of snow, temperature records have been breaking left and right this winter.

Most areas in the state have seen 20-55 days since December 1st with no snow on the ground.

Rochester has seen 10 days with highs above 50 so far this winter, and the Twin Cities have had a dozen (that's a new record too). Both Rochester and the Twin Cities have set 6 new record high temps, and Rochester has set 5 new record high overnight lows, while the Twin Cities did that 7 times.

And its not just here in the southern part of the state. International Falls had its first high of 50 or above in February -- ever.

While we've had accumulating snow a few times here in southern Minnesota, there are parts of the state that received their only snow of the season back on Halloween.

The extended outlook for Minnesota looks like temperatures will be returning to more normal levels, with a chance of cooler than normal temps across the northern part of the state.