Historic October Cold Gives Way To Record Warmth, But A Change Is Coming

We suffered through an unseasonably cold last half of October here in Minnesota, so the big early November warm-up was a welcome relief. “We just completed the warmest six day stretch during any November in recorded history,” says climatologist Kenny Blumenfeld. “We did not set an all-time high temperature record for the state for any November day; that one is still secure. But we did set just about every other type of (temperature) record that there is. We had a record number of days at or above 70 degrees with International Falls and Duluth at three, St. Cloud with four, the Twin Cities with five, and I believe Rochester clocked in with six,” says Blumenfeld. This past Saturday, the daily low temperature in the Twin Cities was 60 degrees which Blumenfeld says was the warmest overnight minimum temperature on record. But there is a change coming this week in the form of rain, colder temperatures and snow. Blumenfeld calls it “a mini-winter storm” but says models are indicating a mid-month return to above normal temperatures.

Blumenfeld and co-host Jim du Bois also discuss why the period from November 6th-12th has historically produced some of the strongest fall storms in Minnesota history including the Armistice Day Blizzard in 1940 and strong gales that sank the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in 1975. “It’s just a very active time because we’re in transition from fall to winter, the jet stream is very strong, you’ve got residual warm air from summer, and you’ve got kind of invading cold air from winter,” says Blumenfeld. “These ingredients align and you can get a very powerful weather system.”