Cooler but still well above normal this week

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We’re rewriting some unusual weather records in the 2023-24 cold season. 

It probably won’t surprise you that last month was the cloudiest January on record for the Twin Cities and much of Minnesota. The solar sensor at the University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus recorded the least solar energy since records began in 1963. You can see the data on the chart above. 

Twenty-eight days in January were recorded as partly cloudy to cloudy at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. We had just three sunny days in January. 

That‘s unusual because January typically brings bitterly cold and dry arctic air masses. These air masses are cold, but typically dry and sunny. 

Our mild and moist Pacific flow kept plenty of cloud cover overhead last month. 

 from the Minnesota State Climatology Office. 

We’ve also seen unprecedented snowfall distribution by month this winter. My colleague Ron Trenda dug up a few interesting stats. 

This is the first winter season going back to 1884 when October snowfall has been higher than November, December and January. 

We’re still on pace for the least snowy winter season on record for the Twin Cities with a paltry 7.3 inches of snowfall so far.

Get ready for more record warmth this week. Here are the record highs in the Twin Cities:

We have a shot to tie or break records each day between Tuesday and Thursday in the Twin Cities and much of Minnesota.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Our weird winter continues to produce unusual weather records. 

Winter weirding: Unusual records continue to fall this winter season

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