2011: Warmest end to the year on record?

Posted at 8:42 AM on December 27, 2011 by Paul Huttner
Filed under: 2011 highlights

52 degree record high on December 26th!

25 degrees - average high Monday at MSP

+27 degrees vs. average Monday!

50 degrees on Halloween 2011 (Monday was warmer than Halloween!)

Highs pushed into the 50s, and record territory Monday in Minnesota.

Was that a (weather) dream?

It was a surreal Christmas in Minnesota this year.

Two kids rode brand new shiny bikes by the Weather Lab on Christmas Day. Hundreds of walkers and joggers paddled by this past weekend. The foot traffic around the Weather Lab looked more like July when people stream to the beach down the street.

Warm sun, bare grass and dry streets. Was it a dream?

The record warm weather felt like a gift to some Minnesotans this year. To snow lovers, not so much.

December Reality Check:

Today's cold front feels more like the Decembers we used to know. Arctic air has nosed into northern Minnesota today, and temperatures are running a good 20 degrees colder in most areas.

Cold air pushes back into Minnesota today. Note the presensce of -20s air now pooling in north central Canada!

The brisk northwest wind will fade this afternoon, but it will feel like winter in Minnesota tonight with tmps in the single digits above zero in the north and teens to low 20s in southern Minnesota overnight.

Mild New Year's?

After a few days in the (still above average) 30s this week, it looks as though temps may briefly push 40 in southern Minnesota New Year's Eve. The warmth will be short lived this time, as a new cold front pushes in by the time we ring in 2012. It looks windy and colder on New Year's Day!

2011: Warmest finish on record?

+6.4 degrees vs. average at MSP in October (8th warmest on record)

+5.5 degrees vs. average at MSP in November (10th warmest on record)

+7.0 degrees vs. average at MSP in December (Weather Lab estimate) (10th warmest on record?)

I've crunched some (preliminary) numbers at the Weather Lab and it looks like this may go down as the warmest end of a year on record in the Twin Cities and much of Minnesota.

Since modern record started in 1871, we've never been able to string together 3 consecutive months this warm in the metro during the last quarter of the year.

The October-December quarter is running about +6.3 degrees vs. average!

Want to know what fall and early winter feels like on Memphis or Tulsa? This is it.

This has been a record end to another remarkable weather year in Minnesota!

PH

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