Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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No significant snow chances in sight, plus almost no snow on the ground. It’s all part of a pattern that keeps Minnesota mild through next week.

Although seasonably chilly, temperatures Wednesday morning began slightly warmer than Tuesday. Most of the state started in the teens, with a few single digits in the Arrowhead and a few 20s in southern Minnesota.

A weak cold front passes through the state during the day, but it doesn’t bring either precipitation or much cold air with it. There will be more clouds along with it though, and the extra cloud cover keep highs in northern Minnesota a few degrees cooler than Tuesday. 

Even with that, the entire state is above average in the afternoon, ranging from a few upper 20s north to the lower 40s in southern Minnesota. 

Already Thursday, widespread sunshine returns and the entire state warms back into the 30s, with 40s south, Including for the Twin Cities.  

That pattern of mostly sunny skies, with above average highs in the 30s and occasional 40s south continues through most of next week.

In addition to the lack of strong cold fronts and precipitation, one of the reasons temperatures are able to stay consistently above average the next week is the lack of snowpack.

Normal highs for early December are in the 20s for most of the state, and low 30s south, including the Twin Cities, which has a normal high of 32 for Dec. 2.

Given our current quiet pattern, more snow on the ground would help keep temperatures closer to those averages instead of the 5 to 15 degrees above average in the forecast.  

However, despite starting off the season very snowy, including a snowstorm in October that was very early in the season, warm weather in November has eroded almost all the snow.  

Here is the snowpack as of Wednesday, showing the vast majority of the state without snow:

Compare that to the same date in 2019, when the entire state was covered with snow:

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Nicole Mitchell 

Author

No significant snow chances in sight, plus almost no snow on the ground. It’s all part of a pattern that keeps Minnesota mild through next week.


Mild temperatures aided by the lack of snowpack

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