Climate Cast ®

Minnesota's volatile winter could be the new normal

a man clears snow off of a driveway
Mike Madsen clears snow off of a driveway at a house he said he recently purchased on Sixth Street in Marshall, Minn., on Monday, March 25, 2024, as a late season snowstorm continued to fall.
Jackson Forderer for MPR News

Minnesota experienced a seasonably cold but relatively snowless winter.

Now, the spring months are making up for lost time by dumping sloppy snowstorms. State climatologist Pete Boulay said what Minnesota is seeing is over time is a different start and end times for the seasons.

“Winter is shifting around a bit,” said Boulay. “We’re not seeing as big of snow storms in November like we used to, but April is becoming a shining moment of winter.”

Boulay said winters have also lost their cold edge. Minnesota isn’t dipping into subzero temperatures like it used to, and each season is getting hard to predict.

“I couldn’t even tell you what next winter is going to be like right now, because anything could happen.”

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