Groundhog Day: Will we even have 6 weeks of winter this year?
Cooler Friday but around 50 degrees again in the next week.
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The warm weather hits of the un-winter of 2023-24 just keep on comin’.
My colleague Mark Seeley passes along that we’ve just lived through the warmest December and January on record in Minnesota.
January Climate Summary:
Warm and dry describe the month of January 2024 in Minnesota. Despite having 8 or 9 colder than normal days in mid-month, many nights of subzero, the statewide average temperature for January will rank as the 10th warmest in history, over 7°F above normal. The last week of January brought temperatures that average 24°F above normal. When combined with the record-setting warm December, the first two months of meteorological winter (Dec-Jan) rank as the warmest in state history (surpassing 2011-2012). Of further note, the three-months of November through January rank as the 2nd warmest in state history, trailing only 2001-2002.
You can catch more with Seeley on Morning Edition Friday mornings and in his Weather Talk blog here.
So this meteorological winter is off to a record-warm start. February will decide if we live through the warmest winter ever recorded. And temperatures the first 10 days of February will run about 25 degrees warmer than normal.
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Cooler weather looks likely by around Feb. 10-11, but temperatures may still run a few degrees above normal. The last half of February will tell the tale of the possible record-warm winter of 2023-24.
You have to wonder if the (historically inaccurate) groundhog matters even less this winter. Looking back at temperatures this winter so far, we’ve only had 16 straight days below freezing between Jan. 6 and 21. That’s about two weeks of true winter.
Will we have six weeks of winter in total this year?
Sunny and mild this weekend
Skies look mostly sunny to partly cloudy through this weekend across most of Minnesota.
Friday brings a cooler day, but temperatures will still run about 10 to 20 degrees warmer than normal.
The average high and low temperatures this weekend for the Twin Cities are 25 and 9 degrees. But we’ll be closer to 50 degrees once again across southern Minnesota by Saturday.
And next week looks more like April once again. Highs in the 40s south will push into the 50s once again next week.
