Sunshine returns with Rapid City breezes
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
When I was a young budding weather enthusiast (um, geek) one of my early mentors was WCCO-TV weatherman Bud Kraehling.
It was winter. Bud pointed to the usual cities on the map. Twin Cities. Duluth. Redwood Falls. Rapid City?
As we shivered in sub-freezing air in the Twin Cities, Bud would point at Rapid City and seemingly tropical temperature numbers. 45 degrees. 57 degrees. 63 degrees? Bud and newsman Dave Moore used to crack wise that Rapid City was in the "Banana Belt."
My inner weather brain tried to compute, why is it so warm in Rapid City? It seemed like it was just as far north as Minnesota? It wasn't until much later I would grasp the concept of what I now know as the Chinook, or "adiabatic down-slope warming."
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Our Minnesota breezes blow in from Rapid City via the Pacific Ocean for the foreseeable future. Get ready for a weird-warm weather pattern lasting well into mid-December.
Pacific breezes
Our El Niño-driven westerly air flow kicks in off the Pacific, over the Rockies and through the woods of Minnesota. No brittle Yukon Arctic fronts in sight for the next two weeks. Just a parade of mild Pacific fronts. The only fly in the weather ointment? Chances for morning fog as snow melts and injects additional moisture into the lower atmosphere the next few days.
After 30 years forecasting Minnesota weather, sometimes you think you've seen it all. I've never seen a December run like the one the forecast models are cranking out for the next two weeks. Consistent 40s with a shot at 50 degrees?
Just. Plain. Weird.
Record late ice in?
We're not making any December ice on lakes this year. My money is on setting some record this year for late ice-in dates across Minnesota. Here's a great link from the Minnesota Climate Working Group to check the latest ice-in dates for your local lake.
No frost in ground yet
Is your lawn just waiting for sunshine and 45 degrees to start growing again this week? Take a look at soil temperatures at the University of Minnesota campus in St. Paul. No significant frost in the ground yet, and these numbers will rise in the next week. Keep the lawn mower handy just in case.
Sunshine and Rapid City breezes. Welcome to December 2015 in Minnesota.
