Fifty-seven degrees? On Jan. 31?
Yep. Duly noted.
Even weather experts are marveling at our streak of warm-weather winter days.
“The top of the ground is beginning to thaw out,” said Pete Boulay, climatologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “It’s very unusual for January.”
“It looks like it’ll continue to be warm for the next week, with temperatures well above normal with high temperatures in the 40s,” said Brent Hewett, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. “That’s roughly 20 degrees warmer than we expect for early February.”
The warmest January day ever was Jan. 25 in 1944, when temps soared to 58 degrees, which was the warmest for the month of January dating back to the 1870s, Hewett said.
For those who ski and enjoy romping outside during colder months, the season so far has been a stinker. But for others, it’s been nothing short of wonderful.
“It is a genuine joy in our hearts,” said Ed Lee, director of the St. Peter Chamber of Commerce, which is hosting its annual Winterfest.
“We’re going to set a record-high today on a day when normally temperatures are 24 degrees. We’re looking at 55 degrees so far,” he said on Wednesday.
Loren Dimmel rejoiced along with Lee, saying he’d normally be ice fishing at this time of the year, but because temperatures are so warm, he’s happily working instead.
Dimmel operates Dimmel Construction out of Kasota, and had his crew working on siding a Mankato house.
“It’s been awesome for working outside,” he said. “Usually at this time of year, we’re off for a few weeks. The weather sure looks good so we’ll get this house sided.”
Tom Hoverstad says this warm weather extravaganza is nothing new. “We’ve been here before,” said the scientist at the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca. “It’s been unusually warm and snow free, but we’ve been here before.
“I’ve got a feeling there will be plenty of snow coming,” he said. “We’ve still got two good snow months of the season coming up. This is pushing records, but it’s not like it’s outlandish.”
Hoverstad said he would like to see some snow cover to protect the soil that’s now exposed. “We would like to protect the soil for the winter, and we’re not seeing that now.”
He feels for folks who rely on snow and cold weather for their income, such as snow removal.
At Play It Again Sports, sales of winter gear are “awful,” said co-owner Steve Eckers. “They started out OK in anticipation of this being a normal winter. We had a normal Minnesota winter and then it stalled out a little bit. It was very odd. It was too cold to go out into it. It’s been an odd winter.”
Indeed, we had a cold snap in mid-January, weather experts say, but that segued into the extended warm spell that we’re in the midst of. The warm stretch was so bad that Farmamerica canceled its upcoming Winter Charm on the Farm event scheduled for Saturday.
“The main point of our event was to celebrate winter after the holidays and have something else to look forward to,” said Jessica Rollins, Farmamerica executive director. “Traditionally it’s been a really fun event. Sometimes we’ve canceled because it’s been so cold, like negative 20-degree wind chill where it’s not safe for volunteers or horses to be out there. It’s the opposite this year.”
Rollins said they’ve never canceled their festival because it was too warm.
“It’s a disappointment,” she said.
Likewise, the Waseca County Sleigh and Cutter Festival Association is celebrating its 74th year, and will make the decision to relocate some of its events during its winter festival. It started Jan. 20 and goes until March 2, with highlights including fireworks and a kite festival.
For safety reasons, those are being moved off Clear Lake in Waseca to the Waseca High School, said Ken Borgmann, association president. “It’s just not safe,” he said.
Another possible change for the festival is canceling its snowmobile races Feb. 24. Borgmann said it’s too early to say for sure, but his hunch is that the popular event will be killed this year.