“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” To savor beauty one must be willing to withstand some discomfort.
Welcome to the Capital of Discomfort! Odds favor a real winter this time around, not the warmed-over Kansas City weather we experienced the last two winters.
Perspective is in order. We will wake up to subzero lows Thursday morning. The average “first subzero” at MSP comes Dec. 9. Minnesota winters aren’t as cold or as long as they were generations ago.
The 30-year average is 22 nights below 0 degrees at MSP, but an average of 15 nights since 2020. Average from 1872 to 1980? Twenty-nine nights. Is this helping at all?
Clippers are spaced one to two days apart for the next week with nuisance snows and highs in the teens and 20s. A brief mid-December thaw may be followed by another subzero punch right before Christmas.
In a warming world we still see an occasional pioneer winter. 2013-14 saw 53 subzero nights in the metro. Yikes.
