Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

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If you think this was an extra snowy February in Minnesota, you're onto something.

The Twin Cities broke their February snowfall record. So did Rochester. And Duluth. And St. Cloud. 

Statewide, it's the fourth-snowiest February on record. 

"The geographic breadth is really what's fascinating" about the snowfall records, said Kenny Blumenfeld, the state's senior climatologist. 

Record snow amid climate change might seem paradoxical. But overall increases in snowfall and larger individual storms align with what climate models predict will happen as the planet warms. 

 — from fires to floods to hurricanes. Snowstorms too. There's more water vapor in the air due to warmer temperatures causing greater evaporation. Blumenfeld said the increased vapor can add fuel to snowstorms.  

 last year. And since warming isn't so extreme to end snow in the North, it follows that we'll see more snow, too.

 Minnesota winters have warmed 6 degrees since 1970. These warmer temps mean there's less time in winter where it's too cold to snow. In some areas around the Great Lakes, moderate temperature increases 

 for heavy snow, according to a government report. 

Yes, it's been cold. And snowy. But remember: One rough month in no way proves or disproves climate science.

"This is just part of one year," Blumenfeld said of our recent harsh winter. "It's easy to forget that up until mid-January we had been really warm and the cold that we're ending with just barely pushes us over to a cold meteorological winter in Minnesota. We're just on the other side of it."

 segment on the audio player above, including a a Climate Story from Katelyn Bocklund of the Great Plains Institute.

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Record snow amid climate change might seem paradoxical. But overall increases in snowfall and larger individual storms align with what climate models predict will happen as the planet warms.

Minn. snowfall records might be aided by climate change

A tractor trailor is stuck in the snow on the side of Interstate 35.

Minn. snowfall records might be aided by climate change

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