We’ve enjoyed a drier and warmer November than normal, experts say, though temperatures are expected to come down to normal or a bit below it for Thanksgiving.
“Our normal high is 37.3 degrees and our normal low is 21.2,” said Tom Hoverstad, scientist with the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center. “It looks like we’re going to be about 5 degrees cooler than that this year on Thanksgiving.”
When it comes to holiday weather, there’s a “pretty wild range of things that can happen,” he said. Our record highs at this time of year are in the low to mid 60s. But record lows are in the teens to below zero, including temps as low as 15 degrees below zero.
“That’s like an 85-degree range,” Hoverstad said. “I was looking at our records and our coldest recent Thanksgiving was 2014, where we woke up to 12 degrees below zero on Thanksgiving.”
Back in 1998, we were enjoying balmy weather, he said, with it being 61 degrees on the holiday.
Thanksgiving can bring us “Indian summer or winter weather,” Hoverstad said. “Our snowiest Thanksgiving was back in 1996, where we had 11 inches on the ground.”
Typically, southern Minnesota doesn’t have snow in late November.
This year a cold front will move through on Thanksgiving, confirms Paige Marten, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen.
“Highs will be in the low to mid 30s on Thanksgiving,” she said. “The weekend is looking a little bit colder or the same with highs right around freezing but dry.”
There won’t be any snow or rain on Thanksgiving, making for good traveling weather for those driving or flying.
“There will be no weather hazards at least,” Marten said. “Maybe occasional fog, but other than that there will be no concerns from the sky.”
November has been abnormally dry and balmy leading up to now. At the Minneapolis airport, we are tied for the driest November on record, she said.
The average temperature for Thanksgiving is 27 degrees, Marten said.
“The difference this year is that we’ve had some warmer weather so it will feel colder,” she said.
“We are not going to have any snow on the ground this year,” Hoverstad said. “We’re dry through the weekend, and we’ve had a dry month.”
For those driving to their holiday destination, the colder air might feel a little less sharp as the cost of gas eases. Prices were hovering around $3 a gallon in this region on Tuesday, according to online fuel tracker GasBuddy.
At the Clark station in St. Peter, the price is $2.93. Casey’s in Mankato is higher, at $3.19, and in Waseca gas prices hover around $3.05. Casey’s in Madelia is the lowest in the area with gas priced at $2.85 a gallon.