January outlook

  December 2013 was wintry, to say the least. Our average temperature for the month was 7.3 degrees below normal in the Twin Cities, and we saw measurable snow on 15 days! Our snowfall total was an impressive 15.9 inches.    

  We had only 7 days with high temps above 32 degrees. Our warmest high temp was 47 degrees on December 28th, and our coldest low temp was 13 below zero on Christmas Eve.

    Looking ahead, the January temperature outlook from the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a tendency toward below normal temperatures over Minnesota and Wisconsin:

  The outlook doesn’t mean that every day is expected to be cooler than normal…it is the average temp for the entire month that shows a cool tendency.

      

  Hope you have a happy 2014!

  I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

November outlook

  October started out really nice, with plenty of sunshine and temperatures well above normal. In the Twin Cities, we enjoyed highs in the 70s on 6 of the first 11 days. Our warmest day was October 10th, with a high of 78 degrees. The second half of October featured much cooler weather. We saw highs in the 40s on 7 days, and the high was only 39 degrees on October 23! The warm start and cool finish resulted in an average temperature for October 2013 that was very near normal…just two-tenths of a degree above normal.

  Looking ahead, the November outlook from the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service doesn’t show a tendency for either above-normal or below normal temperatures over Minnesota and Wisconsin:

  In case you’re wondering, our average high in the Twin Cities is 50 on November 1, dropping to 33 by November 30. Hope you have a great month!

  I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda 

October outlook

  September was a month of some wild temperature swings. High temperatures in the Twin Cities ranged from 94 degrees on September 7 and September 9 to a chilly high of 64 degrees on September 21.  We had 6 days with highs in the 60s and 14 days with highs in the 70s. We also saw 7 days with highs in the 80s and 3 days with highs in the 90s. For the entire month, we came in about 5 degrees above normal.

  Looking ahead, the October outlook from the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a tendency for above-normal temperatures over Minnesota and Wisconsin:

  The outlook doesn’t mean that you should expect above-normal temperatures every day…it is the average temp for the entire month that shows a tendency to come in warmer than normal.  In case you’re wondering, our average high in the Twin Cities is 65 on October 1, dropping to 51 by October 31. Hope you have a great month!

  

I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

August recap

  August made everybody happy, for awhile. If you like cool temps and low humidity, you enjoyed the first half of August. From August 1 through August 15, our average daily temperature (the average of the high and low temp) was below normal on 12 days in the Twin Cities. We had 9 days with highs in the 70s. The final 16 days of August featured above-normal temperatures on 14 days, and we saw highs of 90 or greater on 7 days. Several days were downright steamy, with dewpoints topping 70 degrees. That made for some great swimming/boating weather, but it was tough on folks without air-conditioning.

  Looking ahead, the September outlook from the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows equal chances for normal, below-normal and above-normal temperatures over Minnesota and Wisconsin:

  Whatever the weather, I hope you have a great September!

  I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

Looking cool

  Average never felt so good. Our last day of July featured a high temperature of 83 degrees, which is normal for this time of year. That was a nice temperature rebound after we tallied below-normal temperatures on seven of the previous eight days.

  Looking ahead, the August outlook from the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service shows a tendency for below-normal temperatures over Minnesota and Wisconsin:

The outlook doesn’t mean that you should expect below-normal temperatures every day, since we almost always see some hot days in August. It is the average temperature for the entire month that shows a tendency to come in cooler than normal.  In case you’re wondering, our average high in the Twin Cities is 83 on August 1, dropping to 78 by August 31. Hope you have a great month!

  

  I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

Rushing waters

  Minnehaha Falls is spectacular, and loud, right now.  That’s not surprising, since our Twin Cities precipitation (rainfall plus the water content in that annoying April snow) is 6.32 inches (64%) above normal since April 1.  Here’s how Minnehaha Falls looked yesterday afternoon:

                                (Left-click on the photo for a detailed view) 

  Generous spring rains have helped our lakes recover from the 2011-12 drought.  Based on data from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District MCWD, the water level of Lake Minnetonka is 9 inches higher than it was at this time last year.  The amount of water flowing out of Gray’s Bay Dam right now is six times the flow that was recorded at this time last year. That has contributed to a robustly flowing Minnehaha Creek, and a very picturesque Minnehaha Falls.  Nice!

 I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

Impressive recovery

  99.95% of Minnesota was experiencing drought last fall, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor (Drought), which updates drought conditions weekly. Their October 9, 2012 update showed 47.38% of Minnesota in either severe or extreme drought:

  Generous winter and early spring snows, followed by frequent rains, erased the drought over most of Minnesota. The latest drought update shows only 19.72% of Minnesota experiencing drought. Moderate drought still covers parts of southwestern Minnesota, and a small portion of northwestern Minnesota. Even more impressive, only 3.15% of Minnesota (in the SW) is seeing serious drought right now:

  Our soggy spring has farmers, gardeners and landscapers hoping for a stretch of dry weather. I finally see a window of opportunity to mow my lawn…gotta go.

    I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

April takes the crown

  April snows melt quickly. We have that going for us, which is nice! The 3.8” of snow that fell at MSP airport late Monday brought our April snow total to 17.9”. That tops the 15.1” recorded in February, making this the snowiest month of our Twin Cities 2012-2013 snow season.  

  It’s rare for April to be the snowiest month of winter in the Twin Cities…it hasn’t happened since the winter of 2001-2002. Over the past 30 winters, from the winter of 1983-84 to this winter, our snowiest month has been:

December… 8 times

January… 7 times

March... 5 times

November… 5 times

February… 3 times

April… 2 times

  This is now the third snowiest April in Twin Cities history, based on weather records going back to 1885. Our snowiest April was in 1983, with 21.8”, followed by April of 2002, with 20.2”. If you need more snow stats, you can see an extensive listing of monthly Twin Cities snowfall totals at MSPsnow.

  I’ll leave you with some pics taken in Minnetonka this morning:

  These are along Minnehaha Creek in Big Willow Park:

(You can left-click on any pic for a detailed view)

I’m on Twitter: @RonTrenda and LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rontrenda

Ready for Spring

   We topped out at 51 degrees in the Twin Cities today. It’s the warmest we’ve been since April 6, but nowhere near our average high of 61. Our snowcover is rapidly melting, but additional snow is expected late Monday. Keep the faith....our spring greenup can’t be far away.

   The snowstorm of last Thursday and Thursday night was impressive, especially for April. Here are some snowstorm totals, which were posted last Friday by the Chanhassen office of the National Weather Service:

SNOW REPORTS

 INCHES  LOCATION       STATE       COUNTY   

____________________________________________________

 15.00   2 SSW ELK RIVER        MN  SHERBURNE       

 14.00   MORA                     MN  KANABEC         

 13.50   6 NNE BIG LAKE           MN  SHERBURNE       

 13.50   3 W RICE                 MN  STEARNS         

 13.50   3 ESE RICE               MN  BENTON          

 12.30   MONTICELLO               MN  WRIGHT          

 12.20   1 E MOUND                MN  HENNEPIN        

 12.10   1 W WOODLAND             MN  HENNEPIN        

 12.00   1 ENE ST MICHAEL         MN  WRIGHT          

 12.00   BUFFALO                  MN  WRIGHT          

 12.00   ST CLOUD SCSU            MN  STEARNS         

 11.80   2 NW CHASKA              MN  CARVER          

 11.50   1 ESE CAMBRIDGE          MN  ISANTI          

 11.00   1 NNW COLD SPRING        MN  STEARNS         

 11.00   ANDOVER                  MN  ANOKA           

 11.00   BROWNTON                 MN  MCLEOD          

 10.80   4 NE WATERTOWN           MN  WRIGHT          

 10.70   CRYSTAL                  MN  HENNEPIN        

 10.60   FRIDLEY                  MN  ANOKA           

 10.30   HAMBURG                  MN  CARVER          

 10.10   1 W ST LOUIS PARK        MN  HENNEPIN        

 10.00   2 ENE PLYMOUTH           MN  HENNEPIN        

 10.00   2 ENE PLYMOUTH           MN  HENNEPIN        

 10.00   3 N CAMBRIDGE            MN  ISANTI          

 10.00   DELANO                   MN  WRIGHT          

 10.00   MINNEAPOLIS DOWNTOWN     MN  HENNEPIN        

  9.80   ST CLOUD STC AIRPORT     MN  SHERBURNE       

  9.80   3 SE NEW ULM             MN  BROWN           

  9.70   LONG PRAIRIE             MN  TODD            

  9.60   RICE                     MN  BENTON           

  9.50   STACY                    MN  CHISAGO         

  9.50   MILACA                   MN  MILLE LACS      

  9.40   GAYLORD                  MN  SIBLEY          

  9.30   3 N KIMBALL              MN  STEARNS         

  9.30   2 E JORDAN               MN  SCOTT           

  9.10   CHANHASSEN NWSFO         MN  CARVER          

  9.00   4 SSW MINNEAPOLIS        MN  HENNEPIN        

  9.00   9 NNE BIRD ISLAND        MN  RENVILLE        

  9.00   WILD RIVER STATE PARK    MN  CHISAGO    

  9.00   LITTLE FALLS             MN  MORRISON        

  9.00   1 S CHANHASSEN           MN  CARVER          

  8.80   WATERTOWN                MN  CARVER  

  8.50   3 SSE HAM LAKE           MN  ANOKA           

  8.50   6 WSW ST PETER           MN  NICOLLET        

  8.40   1 NNE MAPLE GROVE        MN  HENNEPIN        

  8.40   U OF M ST PAUL           MN  RAMSEY          

  8.00   ST AUGUSTA               MN  STEARNS         

  8.00   1 SW LITTLE FALLS        MN  MORRISON        

  8.00   6 WNW SPICER             MN  KANDIYOHI       

  8.00   1 WSW GOLDEN VALLEY      MN  HENNEPIN        

  8.00   2 W PRIOR LAKE           MN  SCOTT           

  8.00   MONTEVIDEO               MN  CHIPPEWA        

  8.00   2 NNE MINNEAPOLIS        MN  HENNEPIN         

  8.00   7 SSE BIRD ISLAND        MN  RENVILLE        

  8.00   NEW PRAGUE               MN  SCOTT           

  8.00   REDWOOD FALLS            MN  REDWOOD         

  8.00   MELROSE                  MN  STEARNS         

  7.80   1 SSW SWANVILLE          MN  MORRISON        

  7.50   3 ESE EDEN PRAIRIE       MN  HENNEPIN        

  7.50   2 WNW RICHFIELD          MN  HENNEPIN        

  7.40   LITCHFIELD               MN  MEEKER          

  7.30   1 SW EDINA               MN  HENNEPIN        

  7.20   MINNEAPOLIS MSP AIRPORT  MN  HENNEPIN        

  7.00   LAKEVILLE                MN  DAKOTA          

  7.00   1 SE HENDERSON           MN  SIBLEY          

  7.00   1 SSW LONSDALE           MN  RICE            

  7.00   5 NNW MADISON LAKE       MN  LE SUEUR        

  7.00   3 SW MINNEAPOLIS         MN  HENNEPIN        

  7.00   3 WNW ROSEMOUNT          MN  DAKOTA          

  7.00   5 ESE NEW PRAGUE         MN  RICE            

  7.00   3 ENE MONTGOMERY         MN  RICE            

  7.00   2 SW MONTEVIDEO          MN  LAC QUI PARLE   

  7.00   MAPLEWOOD                MN  RAMSEY          

  7.00   1 NE WATSON              MN  CHIPPEWA        

  6.80   1 WSW LITTLE CANADA      MN  RAMSEY          

  6.70   1 NNW INVER GROVE HEIGH  MN  DAKOTA           

  6.50   RICHFIELD                MN  HENNEPIN        

  6.50   MONTGOMERY               MN  LE SUEUR        

  6.10   4 SE MAPLEWOOD           MN  WASHINGTON      

  6.00   WINNEBAGO                MN  FARIBAULT       

  5.80   1 ESE MILROY             MN  REDWOOD         

  5.50   3 NE BURNSVILLE          MN  DAKOTA          

  5.00   3 SE LAKE ELMO           MN  WASHINGTON      

  5.00   2 SW MANKATO             MN  BLUE EARTH      

  5.00   3 N ALEXANDRIA           MN  DOUGLAS          

  5.00   1 NE FAIRMONT            MN  MARTIN          

  5.00   2 W CUMBERLAND           WI  BARRON          

  5.00   1 WNW FAIRMONT           MN  MARTIN          

  5.00   ST CROIX FALLS           WI  POLK            

  4.80   2 N WILLMAR              MN  KANDIYOHI       

  4.10   1 S HAMPTON              MN  DAKOTA          

  4.10   4 NE WOODBURY            MN  WASHINGTON      

  4.00   7 NNW AMERY              WI  POLK            

  4.00   5 S MINNEAPOLIS          MN  HENNEPIN        

  4.00   1 E REDWOOD FALLS        MN  REDWOOD         

  4.00   CUMBERLAND               WI  BARRON          

  4.00   WASECA                   MN  WASECA