What does our 2009 Winter look like????????

[looking for warmth]

If you lived on propane, it WAS LONG! My husband only set the heat to kick on twice a day (to save on fuel, because of the cost).... TRUST ME...it was a LONG COLD winter !!!

But I thought the wind chills were the worst, you couldn't even go outside and smile, your teeth would crack, you wouldn't dare to sniff your nose, or your nostrils would freeze shut, it hurt to even blink your eyes with the icicles in the way...... I thought too like a lot of you it was soooooooo long, I swear we had 40 days in a row of -30 weather....that's all I remember...

I would much rather have pretty glittery snow so you can play outside over the gross bone chilling cold....ANY DAY!
Ish...
I hope its warmer... or at least +35 degrees in Feb... and all done by March!!!!

[looking for warmth]

Originally Posted by Haakon

According to the Farmers Almanac this winter the midwest is supposed to be colder and have a lot more snow than recent years.

OH GREAT!

[looking for warmth]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

I think this winter will be changeable with dramatic swings in temperature from week to week. I would watch for some very cold air in December, but the rest of the Fall looks to be at or above average in terms of temperatures. I think January-March should see at or above average temperatures.

oHHH I hope your right ... I'm going with you ....... and NOT the farmers almanac!!!! hehehhe

[DaninEGF]

Hi

I was looking up the Dec 07 to March 08 winter stats to see how things stood for Minneapolis. These are temperatures taken at MSP airport and snowfall taken at the NWS office in Chanhassen. I looked up other sites as well..but will just post MSP stats.

Overall the state experienced a bit colder than normal winter last year with most areas below normal snowfall...though outside of southwest Minnesota most areas were not too far from normal during the entire snow season (Nov-Apr).

For MSP

Dec 07
Avg hi 23.4/ 3.0 below normal
Avg low 9.7/ 1.2 below normal
snowfall 18.1 inches / 8.1 above normal

Jan 08
Avg high 21.2/ 0.7 below normal
Avg low 5.2/ 0.9 above normal
snowfall 2.0 inches/ 11.5 below normal

Feb 08
Avg high 23.1/ 5.4 below normal
Avg low 7.3/ 4.7 below normal
snowfall 4.8 inches/ 3.7 below normal

Mar 08
Avg high 36.2/ 4.4 below normal
Avg low 20.4/ 3.1 below normal
snowfall 18.0/ 7.6 above normal


Looking at other stations in the state....it was pretty similar in terms of February 08 and March 08 being much colder than usual. The first part of the winter was about average. I did research an article from the Minnesota climatology office saying statewide it was the coldest winter since 2000-01.


As for this upcoming winter.... the local climate expert in our NWS Grand Forks office (we forecast for areas such as Baudette-Bemidji-Fergus Falls)
says that the atmospheric conditions this fall are setting up to mirror a lot of what last winter saw. Meaning...we are leaning toward a colder than normal winter overall. I see that Environment Canada is also going toward a colder than usual winter for areas from Ontario west to Alberta. For snowfall...our local guy sees a bit more snow than last year....but remember that snowfall trends are very very difficult to pin point as snow amounts can vary greatly over a short distance from any given storm.

Dan
meteorologist in Grand Forks ND

[DaninEGF]

For the fun of it I looked up the number of days when the temperature fell below zero from Nov 07 to March 08. I counted the no. of days when the temperature at some point during the day was below zero by looking at the daily highs/lows.

MSP
28 days temp blo zero....coldest -15 Jan 20

RWF (Redwood Falls -- just to pick a place in SW MN)
43 days temp blo zero....coldest -21 Feb 20

Duluth
43 days temp blo zero....coldest -22 Feb 11

Grand Forks ND
65 days temp blo zero.... coldest -33 Feb 20


All sorts of fun facts

Dan

[bloomingtonsteve]

There's really no way to "predict" what an entire season will be like. We might be able to take a guess based on trends though.
One guess last fall was that the beginning part of winter (December thru mid-January) would be, on average, colder and snowier than average (Don't ever say normal).

By the way...where do you live that you're using LP gas for heating?

[mrconfusion87]

Its about time the winters got cold again!

[kuan]

The problem with warm winters is everything's slush. It's just ugly and useless. This winter has been great. The snow has stayed, the kids can go play hockey on the lakes, we've been able to ski everyday, we can go sledding whenever we want. Try doint that in the slushbelt. Yuck!