Beware of unusual heat bubbles. A summer heat wave in 2022 may have killed as many as 61,000 Europeans. A heat wave across Canada last May ignited fires that burned over 71,000 square miles of forest, nine times greater than average. Remember the smoke here last summer?
The unusual midwinter heat bubble that brought 18 days of 40s and 50s across Minnesota was 20 degrees warmer than average. According to Mark Seeley it was unprecedented warmth; 4 degrees warmer than the previous record in 1944, capped off by the first February tornadoes on record in Wisconsin last Thursday; one a strong EF-2. The meteorological coincidences are piling up.
Colder air is coming. Don’t write off winter yet. Daytime highs flirt with 40F into Wednesday, with a risk of spying the sun every now and then. Weather models hint at a little slushy snow from a Thursday clipper, followed by noticeably colder air. Teens and 20s are likely within 1-2 weeks, so plenty of cold air will be available for snow. If we can magically conjure up a “storm” that is.
