Despite the Thanksgiving cool down, November finished about two to four degrees above normal in Minnesota, thanks largely to the first 11 days of the month. The November heat wave peaked from the 8th to the 10th with high temperatures in the 60's common, and even a few lower 70's over Minnesota. One of the warmest temperatures found was 72 degrees at Lamberton on the 8th.
Winter arrived with a vengeance on November 13-14 with a classic winter storm. From 6 to 10 inches fell from south central to northeast Minnesota. Thunder was even heard with the snowfall during the morning of the 13th around the Twin Cities. This snow was heavy and wet and made for some difficult shoveling. However, it was excellent for making snowballs and all kinds of snow sculptures appeared after the storm around the Twin Cities. Branches fell due to the weight of the snow, and there were many power outages. Rochester saw mostly rain, with over two inches of melted precipitation falling on the 12th and 13th.
A dangerous weather situation set up late on Saturday November 20th and into early Sunday morning the 21st. Freezing drizzle and light freezing rain spread northward across the state and coated roads and structures with a glaze. The ice coating was not thick, but it was enough to cause treacherous driving conditions. There were over 400 car crashes and two deaths in the state attributed to the icy roads.
A modest snowstorm affected travel on Wednesday, November 24th, the day before Thanksgiving. Moderate snow fell at times during the evening and amounted to about 1 to 3 inches over central and southern Minnesota. The snow was heavier in the north with 8.8 inches at International Falls from the 24th to the 25th.
Next was the Thanksgiving chill with the coldest air seen so far this season. Temperatures plummeted to the single digits to below zero by Thanksgiving morning. Because the temperature was still relatively mild just after midnight on the 25th in the Twin Cities, the actual high for Thanksgiving was 27 degrees, but the temperature during the daytime hours only reached 14 degrees. People had to really bundle up for Black Friday sales with temperatures in the teens.
One more winter storm hit the state at the end of the month and brought rain to southern Minnesota and snow to the western part of the state on the 28th. The heaviest snowfall reported was 10 inches at Redwood Falls and Morgan in southwest Minnesota. Significant snow fell across northern Minnesota, adding to an already substantial snowpack.
The month of November saw some impressive snowfall totals in Minnesota, especially in the north. International Falls wound up with its second snowiest November on record with 29 inches, falling just short of the 29.7 inches that fell in 1965. Duluth had 27.9 inches for the month, making November 2010 the snowiest month since 1993. Even the 9.7 inches of snow that fell in the Twin Cities was the most snow in November since 2000.
Listed below are Monthly Summaries from the National Weather Service.
...NOVEMBER 2010 WAS WARMER AND WETTER THAN NORMAL AT DULUTH MN... THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR NOVEMBER WAS 30.5 DEGREES WHICH WAS 2.5 DEGREES WARMER THAN THE NORMAL OF 28.0 DEGREES. THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 56 DEGREES ON THE 10TH. THE LOWEST TEMPERATURE WAS 3 DEGREES ON THE 25TH. NO TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE SET FOR THE MONTH. NOVEMBER 2010 WAS ABOVE NORMAL FOR PRECIPITATION WITH A TOTAL OF 2.42 INCHES RECORDED FOR THE MONTH. THIS IS 0.30 INCHES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 2.12 INCHES. THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD OCCURRED ON THE 13TH TO THE 14TH WHEN 0.79 INCHES WAS REPORTED. AT LEAST A TRACE OF PRECIPITATION WAS REPORTED ON 21 DAYS. AT LEAST 0.01 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION WAS RECORDED ON 13 DAYS. AT LEAST 0.10 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION WAS REPORTED ON 8 DAYS. AT LEAST 0.50 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION WAS RECORDED ON 1 DAY. 27.9 INCHES OF SNOW FELL IN NOVEMBER MAKING THIS THE 7TH SNOWIEST NOVEMBER ON RECORD. THIS IS 13.5 INCHES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 14.4 INCHES. TWO DAILY SNOWFALL RECORDS WERE SET DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER. ON NOVEMBER 13TH 7.1 INCHES OF SNOW FELL BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 3.1 INCHES SET IN 2000. AND ON NOVEMBER 14TH 3.8 INCHES OF SNOW WAS REPORTED BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 3.0 INCHES SET IN 1911. THE AVERAGE WIND SPEED FOR THE MONTH WAS 10.6 MPH. THE WINDIEST DAY FOR THE MONTH WAS ON THE 24TH WITH AN AVERAGE WIND SPEED OF 17.4 MPH. THE GREATEST SUSTAINED WINDS OCCURRED ON THE 11TH WITH A WIND OUT OF THE SOUTHWEST AT 29 MPH. THERE WAS A PEAK GUST OF 37 MPH FROM THE WEST RECORDED ON THE 11TH AND ON THE 19TH FROM THE NORTHWEST. THERE WERE 1032 HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH WHICH WAS 92 BELOW THE NORMAL OF 1124...THIS BROUGHT THE SEASONAL TOTAL TO 2012 WHICH WAS 300 BELOW THE NORMAL OF 2312. THERE WERE 0 COOLING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH WHICH WAS NORMAL. THE SEASONAL TOTAL COOLING DEGREE DAYS REMAIN AT 310 WHICH IS 121 DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 189. THE HIGHEST BAROMETRIC PRESSURE READING FOR THE MONTH WAS 30.50 INCHES REACHED ON THE 12TH AND THE LOWEST BAROMETRIC PRESSURE READING WAS 29.47 INCHES REACHED ON THE 30TH. THE OUTLOOK FOR DECEMBER...NORMAL HIGHS BEGIN IN THE MID TO UPPER 20S ON THE 1ST AND DROP TO THE UPPER TEENS AT THE END OF THE MONTH. NORMAL LOWS RANGE FROM THE LOWER TEENS ON THE 1ST AND DROP TO 9 DEGREES ON THE 31ST. NORMAL PRECIPITATION FOR DECEMBER IS 0.94 INCHES. NORMAL SNOWFALL FOR DECEMBER IS 14.9 INCHES. NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION ARE EXPECTED IN DECEMBER. PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 807 AM CST FRI DEC 3 2010 ...NOVEMBER 2010 WAS WARMER AND WETTER THAN NORMAL AT INTERNATIONAL FALLS MN... THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR NOVEMBER WAS 28.9 DEGREES WHICH WAS 4.5 DEGREES WARMER THAN THE NORMAL OF 24.4 DEGREES. THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 64 DEGREES ON THE 9TH AND 10TH. THE LOWEST TEMPERATURE WAS 5 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ON THE 23RD. TWO DAILY TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE SET FOR THE MONTH. ON NOVEMBER 9TH THE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 64 DEGREES BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 56 DEGREES SET IN 1969. ON NOVEMBER 10TH THE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 64 DEGREES BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 60 DEGREES SET IN 1954. NOVEMBER 2010 WAS ABOVE NORMAL FOR PRECIPITATION WITH A TOTAL OF 2.24 INCHES RECORDED FOR THE MONTH MAKING THIS THE 12TH WETTEST NOVEMBER IN STATION HISTORY. THIS IS 0.88 INCHES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 1.36 INCHES. THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD OCCURRED ON THE 29TH TO THE 30TH WHEN 0.46 INCHES WAS REPORTED. AT LEAST A TRACE OF PRECIPITATION WAS REPORTED ON 19 DAYS. AT LEAST 0.01 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION WAS RECORDED ON 15 DAYS. AT LEAST 0.10 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION WAS REPORTED ON 6 DAYS. 29.0 INCHES OF SNOW FELL IN NOVEMBER MAKING THIS THE 2ND SNOWIEST NOVEMBER ON RECORD. THIS IS 15.7 INCHES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 13.3 INCHES. ONE DAILY PRECIPITATION RECORD WAS SET FOR THE MONTH. ON NOVEMBER 29TH 0.41 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION WAS RECORDED BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 0.35 INCHES SET IN 1919. THREE DAILY SNOWFALL RECORDS WERE SET DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER. ON NOVEMBER 22ND 6.6 INCHES OF SNOW FELL BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 5.9 INCHES SET IN 1970. ON NOVEMBER 24TH 6.5 INCHES OF SNOW WAS REPORTED BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 3.8 INCHES SET IN 1995. AND ON NOVEMBER 29TH 3.7 INCHES OF SNOW FELL BREAKING THE THE OLD RECORD OF 3.2 INCHES SET IN 1983. THE AVERAGE WIND SPEED FOR THE MONTH WAS 7.6 MPH. THE WINDIEST DAY FOR THE MONTH WAS ON THE 30TH WITH AN AVERAGE WIND SPEED OF 14.2 MPH. THE GREATEST SUSTAINED WINDS OCCURRED ON THE 19TH WITH A WIND OUT OF THE WEST AT 28 MPH AND A PEAK GUST OF 45 MPH FROM THE WEST ON THE 19TH. THERE WERE 1075 HEATING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH WHICH WAS 142 BELOW THE NORMAL OF 1217...THIS BROUGHT THE SEASONAL TOTAL TO 2213 WHICH WAS 244 BELOW THE NORMAL OF 2457. THERE WERE 0 COOLING DEGREE DAYS FOR THE MONTH WHICH WAS NORMAL. THE SEASONAL TOTAL COOLING DEGREE DAYS REMAIN AT 207 WHICH IS 26 DEGREES BELOW THE NORMAL OF 233. THE HIGHEST BAROMETRIC PRESSURE READING FOR THE MONTH WAS 30.50 INCHES REACHED ON THE 20TH AND THE LOWEST BAROMETRIC PRESSURE READING WAS 29.47 INCHES REACHED ON THE 30TH. THE OUTLOOK FOR DECEMBER...NORMAL HIGHS BEGIN IN THE MID 20S ON THE 1ST AND DROP TO THE MID TEENS AT THE END OF THE MONTH. NORMAL LOWS RANGE FROM 7 DEGREES ABOVE ZERO ON THE 1ST AND DROP TO 7 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ON THE 31ST. NORMAL PRECIPITATION FOR DECEMBER IS 0.70 INCHES. NORMAL SNOWFALL FOR DECEMBER IS 13.9 INCHES. NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION ARE EXPECTED IN DECEMBER.