Thursday, January 19, 2012

Minneapolis Ties Record for Latest Sub-Zero Temperature;
New Record Missed by 1 Hour

12:30 AM CST Update: It's semi-official; the preliminary daily climate summary for January 18 reports a low temperature of -1° at the Twin Cities. St. Cloud hit -9° tonight after having been -3° in the morning.

Original post:
The temperature this winter has remained above 0° at Minneapolis through January 17 (Tuesday), at least tying the record for latest below-zero reading, on January 18 in 1889 and 2002. After the morning low of +2°, the temperature was at 0° as of 11 pm CST and falling. The midnight temperature was -1°, so the record was missed by 1 hour. The National Weather Service reported earlier:
The likelihood of witnessing a below zero temperature across southern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin during any given winter is very good indeed. There has NEVER been a winter where temperatures failed to drop below zero.

In the Twin Cities, the long term average for the first below zero reading is December 9th. The least number of below zero days was 2, back in the winter of 2001-2002. January 18th is the latest date on record during the winter season that the Twin Cities has experienced its first below zero temperature (set back in 1889 and 2002).

The temperature Wednesday morning (January 18th) failed to drop below zero, and is expected to remain above zero for the rest of the day, so this record has been tied. The "latest sub-zero temperature" record is expected to be broken tomorrow (January 19th) when temperatures drop below zero at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport early Thursday morning.

Mankato has also not dropped below zero this winter, as of January 17th. However, the low temperature is expected to drop below zero Thursday morning, ending the streak there as well. The least number of below zero days for a given winter in Mankato was 6 back in the winter of 1982-1983.

St Cloud, Albert Lea and Eau Claire have already seen below zero days this winter. As of January 17th, St. Cloud and Albert Lea have all dropped below zero 3 times. Eau Claire has dropped below zero 2 times so far.

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