Minnesota is in a weather pattern lately that seems to change by turning a page on the calendar. Looking at preliminary statistics for the last few months, August was below normal, September was sixth warmest, October was the eighth coldest, and now November looks like it will rank as second warmest on record statewide.
Across the state, most cities saw their second or third warmest November on record.
City Rank November 2009 ----------------------------------- Fargo 2nd warmest Rochester 2nd warmest Twin Cities 2nd warmest Duluth 3rd warmest Internat. Falls 3rd warmest St. Cloud 3rd warmest Grand Forks 3rd warmest
The reason for the warm and dry November weather was a persistent pattern of Pacific high pressure areas, and any storm systems that developed during the month mostly stayed far to the north in Canada, or steered well to the south of Minnesota.
Below are Public Information Statements from the National Weather Service on the warm November. PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI 656 AM CST FRI DEC 1 2009 ...ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION DURING NOVEMBER 2009 IN ROCHESTER... THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 42.8 DEGREES. THIS WAS 11.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THE AVERAGE HIGH WAS 51.8 DEGREES...WHILE THE AVERAGE LOW WAS 33.8 DEGREES. THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE DURING THE MONTH WAS 69 DEGREES ON THE 8TH. THE LOWEST READING IN NOVEMBER WAS 23 DEGREES WHICH OCCURRED ON THE 27TH. ROCHESTER RECEIVED 0.45 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER. THIS WAS 1.56 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THE GREATEST 24-HOUR PRECIPITATION WAS 0.17 INCHES WHICH OCCURRED ON THE 22ND THROUGH THE 23RD. A SNOWFALL TOTAL OF 0.2 OF AN INCH FELL DURING THE MONTH WHICH WAS ALSO THE GREATEST 24-HOUR SNOWFALL TOTAL. ...RECORDS... THERE WERE NO DAILY RECORDS ESTABLISHED DURING NOVEMBER. ...DISCUSSION... NOVEMBER WAS VERY QUIET AS THE MAJORITY OF THE WEATHER SYSTEMS PASSED EITHER NORTH OR SOUTH OF THE REGION. A WESTERLY FLOW ALLOWED AIR OF PACIFIC ORIGIN TO PREVAIL FOR MUCH OF THE MONTH. TEMPERATURES BEGAN NOVEMBER NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL...BUT THEN QUICKLY CLIMBED TO ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE REMAINDER OF NOVEMBER. COOLER AIR FILTER SOUTHWARD INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST BEHIND A COUPLE OF COLD FRONTAL PASSAGES DURING THE LAST WEEK OF THE MONTH. PRECIPITATION WAS WELL BELOW NORMAL IN ROCHESTER DURING NOVEMBER. THERE WERE ONLY 5 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION AND ONLY 3 DAYS WITH AT LEAST A TENTH OF AN INCH. THE SPARSE PRECIPITATION FELL MAINLY DURING THE LATTER HALF OF THE MONTH. MEASURABLE SNOW FELL ON ONLY 1 DAY DURING NOVEMBER AND TOTALED 0.2 INCHES. ...LOOKING AHEAD TO DECEMBER... THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN DECEMBER IS 17.3 DEGREES...WITH AN AVERAGE HIGH OF 24.5 AND AN AVERAGE LOW OF 10.1 DEGREES. DECEMBER IS ALSO THE MONTH WHEN BELOW ZERO TEMPERATURES USUALLY RETURN TO ROCHESTER...WITH AN AVERAGE OF 9 SUB-ZERO READINGS OCCURRING DURING THE MONTH. THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE OCCURRED ON DECEMBER 19TH WITH 33 DEGREES BELOW BACK IN 1983...WHILE THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE IN DECEMBER WAS 63 ON THE 17TH IN 1963. THE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH IS 1.02 INCHES WITH 11.6 OF SNOWFALL NORMALLY DURING THE MONTH OF DECEMBER. $ PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI 646 AM CST TUE DEC 1 2009 ...ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION DURING NOVEMBER 2009 IN LA CROSSE WI... THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 42.7 DEGREES. THIS WAS 7.2 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE WAS 52.1 DEGREES WHILE THE AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE WAS 33.3 DEGREES. THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE WAS 70 DEGREES ON THE 8TH OF NOVEMBER. WHILE THE LOWEST READING WAS 24 DEGREES WHICH OCCURRED ON THE 16TH AND 27TH. LA CROSSE RECEIVED 0.58 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER. THIS WAS 1.52 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THE GREATEST 24-HOUR PRECIPITATION WAS 0.39 INCHES WHICH OCCURRED FROM THE 24TH INTO THE 25TH OF NOVEMBER. TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR NOVEMBER WAS ONLY A TRACE WHICH OCCURRED ON THE 25TH AND 29TH. THIS WAS 3.5 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. ...RECORDS... THERE WERE NO DAILY RECORDS ESTABLISHED DURING NOVEMBER. ...DISCUSSION... NOVEMBER WAS RATHER QUIET AS THE MAJORITY OF THE WEATHER SYSTEMS PASSED EITHER NORTH OR SOUTH OF THE REGION. A WESTERLY FLOW ALLOWED AIR OF PACIFIC ORIGIN TO PREVAIL FOR MUCH OF THE MONTH. TEMPERATURES BEGAN NOVEMBER NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL...BUT THEN QUICKLY CLIMBED TO ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE REMAINDER OF NOVEMBER. COOLER AIR FILTERED SOUTHWARD INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST BEHIND A COUPLE OF COLD FRONTAL PASSAGES DURING THE LAST WEEK OF THE MONTH. PRECIPITATION WAS WELL BELOW NORMAL IN LA CROSSE DURING NOVEMBER. THERE WERE ONLY 5 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION AND ONLY 2 DAYS WITH AT LEAST A TENTH OF AN INCH. THE SPARSE PRECIPITATION AMOUNT FELL MAINLY DURING THE LATTER HALF OF THE MONTH. THERE WAS ONLY A TRACE OF SNOW THAT FELL DURING THE MONTH. ...LOOKING AHEAD TO DECEMBER... THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR DECEMBER IS 21.8 DEGREES. THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE IS 29.9 DEGREES. MEANWHILE THE AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE IS 13.6 DEGREES. DECEMBER IS ALSO THE MONTH WHEN BELOW ZERO TEMPERATURES USUALLY RETURN TO LA CROSSE...WITH AN AVERAGE OF 6 SUB-ZERO READINGS OCCURRING DURING THE MONTH. THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE WAS 37 DEGREES BELOW BACK ON DECEMBER 19 1872...AND THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE WAS 67 DEGREES ON DECEMBER 5 1998. THE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH IS 1.23 INCHES AND THE AVERAGE SNOWFALL IS 9.6 INCHES. PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 630 AM CST TUE DEC 1 2009 ...NOVEMBER SECOND AND THIRD WARMEST AT FARGO AND GRAND FORKS... THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER WAS THE SECOND WARMEST ON RECORD IN FARGO WITH AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 38.4 DEGREES WHICH WAS 11.4 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. ONLY NOVEMBER 2001 WAS WARMER WITH AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 39.7 DEGREES. IN ADDITION...THERE WERE NO DAYS WITH A MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 32 DEGREES. THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER WAS THE THIRD WARMEST ON RECORD IN GRAND FORKS WITH AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 35.9 DEGREES WHICH WAS 10.3 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. ONLY NOVEMBER 1981 AND NOVEMBER 2001 WERE WARMER WITH AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURES OF 36.0 DEGREES AND 36.5 DEGREES RESPECTIVELY. IN ADDITION...THERE WAS ONLY ONE DAY WITH A MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE AT OR BELOW 32 DEGREES. THIS OCCURRED ON NOVEMBER 26 WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 32 DEGREES.
Last modified: September 13, 2016
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