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Weather chats with Mark Seeley
Cathy Wurzer and Gracie Stockton

Weirdly warm October ends with a snowy Halloween

snow accumulates along a road
Snow accumulates along Johnson Road Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024 in Hermantown, Minn. A winter weather advisory was in effect Halloween day in the Twin Ports region and in central to northeastern Minnesota marking one of the first winter advisories of the season.
Erica Dischino for MPR News

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October continued the trend of a warmer-than-average fall temperatures, accented by a deepening drought and bookended with a snowy Halloween.

Meteorologist and climatologist Mark Seeley spoke with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about the record-high temperatures and much more in their weekly weather chat.

“This year across Minnesota was indeed the warmest in state history and ended up being the third-driest year in state history,” Seeley said. “So it’s no wonder that we had so many red flag warnings out in the month of October for fire danger, and it’s no wonder also that we had the drought monitor show such a rapid increase in the areas of Minnesota under either moderate or severe drought.”

The wettest day of the month was Thursday — Halloween — and several cities set precipitation records, including 1.40 inches at the climate stations in Hokah and at the La Crescent Dam.  Windom reported a new daily record of 2.4 inches of snowfall; Comfrey reported 3.5 inches.

Dovetailing a pattern set in September, Seeley said October of 2024 was the sixth-warmest in state history, and especially record-setting for western Minnesota. All 30 days of September had a high temperature of at least 70 degrees.