Minnesota Climate Extremes

The Minnesota State Climatology Office is part of a Statewide Climate Extremes Committee that tracks Minnesota's all-time weather extremes, in cooperation with the six National Weather Service Forecast Offices that serve the state, as well as with the Midwest Regional Climate Center. Five of the records tracked--all-time maximum and minimum temperature, maximum 24-hour precipitation, maximum monthly snowfall, and maximum snow depth (all shown in italics in the table below)--are required to be tracked in every state.

So what does it take to set a statewide climate record? For the five required elements, and all temperature, precipitation, and snowfall records, the Committee only recognizes National Weather Service-operated weather stations, either from the vast network of volunteer Cooperative observers, or the high-quality automated stations found at select airports and National Weather Service offices. The Committee does not consider values from automated stations operated by state agencies (including at most municipal airports), schools, and local units of government, nor does it recognize values recorded by personal weather stations, store-bought measuring equipment, vehicle sensors, or anything not subject to National Weather Service quality-control protocols.

Wind, barometric pressure, heat index, and wind chill records may be obtained from a wider variety of automated sensors, including non-National Weather Service-operated equipment, so long as the equipment is sited and maintained adequately, and is known to perform well.

* The maximum high temperature record for Minnesota was amended by the National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly the National Climatic Data Center). The record, previously cited as 114.5 degrees F at Beardsley, was rounded to 115 degrees.

Climate Extremes Information from the National Climatic Data Center

• Climate Extremes for the United States
• Determining All-Time Weather Records for Minnesota