The temperature at the Twin Cities International Airport dropped below zero just before midnight on January 18th, the first time this winter that a below-zero temperature was recorded. This ties the record for the latest date in the winter that the Twin Cities temperature fell below zero. The other winters where the temperature first dropped below zero on January 18th were the winters of 2001-2002 and 1888-89.
In 140 years of record keeping in the Twin Cities, the official temperature has always fallen below zero sometime during the winter. There has never been a Twin Cities winter where the temperature has not dipped below zero in at least two days.
The long term average for the first below-zero reading in the Twin Cities is December 9. The earliest below-zero temperature recorded in the Twin Cities was November 4, 1991
Twin Cities Latest First Below-Zero Temperature of the Winter (period of record: 1872-2012)
Rank Season First Below Zero ------------------------ 1) 2011-12 January 18 1) 2001-02 January 18 1) 1888-89 January 18 4) 1954-55 January 16 5) 1881-82 January 14 6) 2002-03 January 11 6) 1974-75 January 11 6) 1913-14 January 11 9) 1877-78 January 4 10) 1969-70 January 2