Entering the time period with the most frequent temps

KMSP - It is likely that just about everyone in the U.S. knows Minnesota for the frigid cold temperatures… and the accent of course. “Oh yeah, Minnesota is that wicked cold state somewhere way up north” they might say.  Well, it may shock many of us then to know that the most common high temperature in the Twin Cities actually start with an 8… and I’m not talking about 80 below zero.  That’s right, the most common high temperatures in the metro are actually the low 80s.

The current 30 year average climatology (1981-2010) shows that we spend an average of 75 days a year with high temperatures in the 80s.  That’s more than any other chunk of temperatures when separated by the first digit.  Now, that’s not to say we don’t get cold, because it’s pretty obvious that we do.  But we spend fewer days in the truly cold temps than the warm ones, averaging 71 days in the 20s.  All of the other ten digit categories come in with far fewer days on average.  We spend just 37 days a year on average in the 40s, and 38 days a year in the 50s.

See, it’s not THAT cold in Minnesota.  We just proved that we actually see more warm weather than cold weather in the state… well, I guess that depends on your perspective.  Some may think that 70° is too cold.  If that’s the case, then you’re probably living in the wrong state.