The Minnesota Weather Thread (Marshall, Viking: driveway, small town, history)

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by BobMarley_1LOVE

What city has the most similar winters to what we're having right now? Is this like a NYC winter or more of a Chicago winter?

To find the answer to ur question, I would look at temp averages for said cities for Nov, Dec and first 6 days of Jan. get that average. Then, find the average temp of our winter so far and see. This is more like a NYC winter. Even my family in Chicago is saying how warm this winter has been

[knke0204]

The Average temp. of the Twin Cities in the month of December was 34 degrees. It's typically about 23 degrees.

Chicago's Dec. Average is about 36 degrees. So I guess it would be about Chicago's winter.

NYC's is about 40 for December... So...

[tvdxer]

The average temperature (the sum of the high and low divided by 2) in Minneapolis this last December was actually 27.8 degrees, which was 8.1 degrees above normal. The warmest, by comparison, was 30.5F in 1913 (although it may have been warmer in the December of 1877, which was before the modern record, which began in 1891). The average December temperature for the Chicagoland weather stations ranges from 25 degrees to 31 degrees - the urban heat island has a tremendous effect there.

Personally, when doing weather comparisons (and yes, I do them all the time, for fun), I like to use locations on similar longitudes, or at least with similar sunshine hours, relative humidities, and diurnal variations (the difference between the high and low temperatures for a given day). For example, the "Chicago Northerly IS" weather station has an average December temperature of 30.6 degrees, a tenth of a degree higher than any December ever experienced in the Twin Cities. However, this is largely due to the average low being so "warm" - 24.9F. However, Minneapolis's warm December was due especially to low minimum temperatures (and not really warm high temperatures), so maybe Chicago is a good comparison.

On similar lines of longitude, though, Minneapolis had a December with an average temperature typical of Southern Iowa or northern Missouri, the average low being more along the lines of the Missouri locations. Duluth at 21.7F - which was 6.9 degrees above the 1981-2010 average and lower than Minneapolis's average low temperature for the month - was comparable to locations in northern Iowa.

You have to remember, however, that December 2011 was not uniformly warm. The first ten days of the month were about two degrees below normal in Minneapolis and Duluth. The last part of the month, however, was 10 degrees above average in Duluth and a whole 12.7 degrees above average for Minneapolis. The January figures to date are not far off. Comparing parts of months to other locations is practically much more difficult.

[Minnesota Spring]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

The average temperature (the sum of the high and low divided by 2) in Minneapolis this last December was actually 27.8 degrees, which was 8.1 degrees above normal. The warmest, by comparison, was 30.5F in 1913 (although it may have been warmer in the December of 1877, which was before the modern record, which began in 1891). The average December temperature for the Chicagoland weather stations ranges from 25 degrees to 31 degrees - the urban heat island has a tremendous effect there.

Personally, when doing weather comparisons (and yes, I do them all the time, for fun), I like to use locations on similar longitudes, or at least with similar sunshine hours, relative humidities, and diurnal variations (the difference between the high and low temperatures for a given day). For example, the "Chicago Northerly IS" weather station has an average December temperature of 30.6 degrees, a tenth of a degree higher than any December ever experienced in the Twin Cities. However, this is largely due to the average low being so "warm" - 24.9F. However, Minneapolis's warm December was due especially to low minimum temperatures (and not really warm high temperatures), so maybe Chicago is a good comparison.

On similar lines of longitude, though, Minneapolis had a December with an average temperature typical of Southern Iowa or northern Missouri, the average low being more along the lines of the Missouri locations. Duluth at 21.7F - which was 6.9 degrees above the 1981-2010 average and lower than Minneapolis's average low temperature for the month - was comparable to locations in northern Iowa.

You have to remember, however, that December 2011 was not uniformly warm. The first ten days of the month were about two degrees below normal in Minneapolis and Duluth. The last part of the month, however, was 10 degrees above average in Duluth and a whole 12.7 degrees above average for Minneapolis. The January figures to date are not far off. Comparing parts of months to other locations is practically much more difficult.

It seems like it has been especially warm here in Southwest Minnesota, compared to the Twin Cities even. This winter seems warmer to me than an average winter than where i grew up by St. Joe, Missouri. Of course, they have been warmer than average down there as well this year.

[demtion35]

Yesterday Fargo was warmer than Miami

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by demtion35

Yesterday Fargo was warmer than Miami

It looks like Friday's low in Miami, FL was 50 degrees, while the high in Fargo, ND was 44.

Thursday's low in Miami, FL was 51 while Fargo's high was 55!

[golfgal]

I found all of our snow:

Alaska town digs out of 18 FEET of snow :

Alaska town tries to dig out from 18 feet of snow - TwinCities.com

[west336]

Originally Posted by knke0204

To find the answer to ur question, I would look at temp averages for said cities for Nov, Dec and first 6 days of Jan. get that average. Then, find the average temp of our winter so far and see. This is more like a NYC winter. Even my family in Chicago is saying how warm this winter has been

And yet, the most noise about "winter cold" comes from NE'ers and particularly, NYC'ers. What a buncha babies -- who couldn't handle this??!!

[west336]

Originally Posted by knke0204

The Average temp. of the Twin Cities in the month of December was 34 degrees. It's typically about 23 degrees.

Chicago's Dec. Average is about 36 degrees. So I guess it would be about Chicago's winter.

NYC's is about 40 for December... So...

Avg HIGH or Avg TEMP (all day)? Your numbers don't seem to be apples-to-apples. 36 sounds like the Dec avg. HIGH for Chicago.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by west336

Avg HIGH or Avg TEMP (all day)? Your numbers don't seem to be apples-to-apples. 36 sounds like the Dec avg. HIGH for Chicago.

They were average Highs. I used Wiki and couldn't find and easily accessible climate data... I was lazy..