Will the “Warm” Winter Stick Around?

Few people would argue that this winter is far from a traditional Minnesota season. By this time on a typical year, people have fired up their snow blowers a dozen or more times, left the water running to prevent pipes from freezing and spent a few days fishing on an ice covered lake – but not this year.

While there have been a few days of snarled traffic from snow, they have been few and far between and Minnesota isn’t the only state experiencing a mild winter. Cities on the east coast, like Syracuse, New York, which are known for heavy snowfall, aren’t coming close to an average winter either.

“If Mother Nature wants to skip to April, that’s fine by me,” Golden Valley mother of two Trisha Aubin said. “I can’t remember the last time we’ve had a nice winter like this.”

To answer Aubin’s question, so far, this is the third warmest winter on record.  According to WCCO meteorologists Matt Brickman Lauren Casey in 1953 and in 2001 Minnesotan had a warmer than usual winter. If those two years are indicators of what’s to come, February will bring above average temperatures and March will bring below average temperatures.

Fatima Levine, a secretary in Golden Valley says, “I keep waiting for some big storm, like we’ll be punished for this nice weather.”

According to Brickman and Casey, that might not happen. Both of the years warm winter years had a mild start to spring, with above averages temperatures arriving earlier than usual.

As for the immediate forecast, there is no real threat of snow, there is a small chance this weekend with temperatures in the teens, but by next week temperatures bounce back into the upper 30s.