First March without 50 degrees in 22 years?
Mid-40s Friday afternoon in the Twin Cities
Forty-five measly degrees.
That’s the warmest temperature we’ve been able to squeeze out of the thermometer at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport so far this year. We reached 45 on Feb. 8, then again on March 15 and 16.
The Twin Cities will make another trip into the mid-40s on Friday afternoon. Most forecast models suggest thermometers around the Twin Cities may stop shy of 50 degrees through the upcoming weekend.
So when was the last time the Twin Cities temperature didn’t reach 50 degrees in March? You have to go back 22 years to 2001. “Drops of Jupiter” by Train was tearing up the music charts that year.
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You can see by the chart at the top of this post that we topped out at 65 degrees in the Twin Cities last year. And we’ve basked in 70-degree March temperatures three times in the past eight years — 2015, 2016, and 2021.
And of course you remember the 80 glorious degrees on St. Patrick’s Day in 2012 with open water on area lakes, right?
March 2012 was the year we had green grass and blooming trees all around us.
A shot at 50 next week?
Of course, it’s still March for another week. Forecast models suggest another weather system that may bring another rain-snow mix toward the middle of next week.
Some models eye temperatures near 50 degrees around next Wednesday for the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota.
If we don’t get there, it will be the first March in 22 years without a 50-degree temperature in the Twin Cities.
After this supersized winter, this better be one heck of a summer.