International Falls on a Record Setting Pace for Snow

Posted at 8:26 AM on January 8, 2009 by Mark Seeley (2 Comments)

Portions of northern Minnesota are seeing their snowiest season since that of 1995-1996. This is certainly true for International Falls, where both the frequency of snowfall and the quantity of snowfall are making this a memorable winter. For comparison here is a listing of the number of days with snowfall observed and the total monthly quantity of snowfall from September 1 to January 7. The list compares the current snow season to that of 1995-1996 when International Falls set a seasonal snowfall record of 116 inches.
The frequency of days includes those when just a trace of snow was reported.

Current snow season (2008-2009): Sep had 0 days with snowfall and 0 total snowfall;Oct had 3 days with snowfall and 0.3 total inches; Nov had 21 days with snowfall and 10.9 total inches; Dec had 29 days with snowfall and 35.9 total inches; Jan 1-7 had 7 days with snowfall and 15.8 total inches. Sum total for period September 1 to January 7 is 60 days with snow and 62.9 inches.

Snow season (1995-1996): Sep had 2 days with snowfall and a trace total; Oct had 8 days with snowfall and 4.7 total inches; Nov had 25 days with snowfall and 16.5 total inches; Dec had 28 days with snowfall and 21.4 inches; Jan 1-7 had 4 days with snowfall and 0.9 total inches. Sum total for period September 1 to January 7 was 67 days with snowfall and 43.5 inches.

It will be interesting to see if this record-setting pace continues at both International Falls and elsewhere.

Comments (2)

Could you comment on how this season's snowfall in the Red River (of the North) basin compares to other years?

Posted by Chris B. Critter | January 8, 2009 5:06 PM

Interesting you should bring this up Chris...many areas of the Red River Valley from Breckenridge north to the Canadian border had over 30 inches of snowfall in December. This came on top of one of the wettest fall seasons in history. With the soils already saturated and that much snow on top of frozen ground, this inflates the threat of spring snowmelt flooding along the River River this spring....

Posted by Mark Seeley | January 8, 2009 6:31 PM

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories