Science

Amazing as it may sound, it’s been a pretty mild winter so far. The months of December, January and February have ranged roughly 5 degrees above average as a whole which puts us in 21st place for warmest winter. Not exactly groundbreaking, but it does show that temps have generally been around or above average. Sure, we’ve seen a couple of cold snaps including a brief one a few days ago, but what winter doesn’t have ANY cold snaps? I can answer that for you… none! So our next one is on the way, but this one may challenge some of the coldest wind chills of the season so far.

Since our dash a day snow from nearly three weeks ago, it’s been very quiet around here. Because of that tranquility, we were stuck with cloudy skies for just under 11 consecutive days--one of the longest stretches of cloudy weather in years. 

While Minnesota is nice and quiet, many other parts of the country are getting a large dose of winter weather and moisture.  A large storm is pushing through the southern & eastern U.S. midweek leading to a band of heavy snow from Texas to New England as well as heavy rain across the Southeast.

We’re now on day nine with persistent gray skies, so just how much longer will it be before we see the sun? Well, can you handle another day or two? Yep, that’s right. Another 48 hours or so and we might actually get to see the sun again. Not to mention, temperatures could warm into the 40s before the weekend is over. So why have we been so cloudy?

One year ago this week, Minnesota as well as much of the Upper Midwest, were dealing with cold that hadn’t been seen in at least a couple of decades. A massive and extreme pocket of cold air was shoved southward straight out of the North Pole and ended up in Minnesota just 36 hours later. It was this quick movement and heavy snow cover across the Northern Hemisphere that didn’t allow this air to warm as it headed southward, like many arctic outbreaks have before. This lead to the coldest day in the Twin Cities in a good 25 years.

This month has been the area's gloomiest January in more than 50 years, and it will go down as the cloudiest first month of the year since solar radiation records began at the University of Minnesota St. Paul Climate Observatory back in 1963.

One of the oldest lionesses in captivity passed away recently at age 27 at The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, Minnesota.

Have you seen a few flakes over the last couple of days? Well, those flakes may actually have been caused by man instead of nature.

The next couple of weeks will likely change many of our attitudes about our winter so far with plenty of mild temperatures likely to round out our January… what’s typically our coldest month of the year. But overall, according to the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index (AWSSI), it’s been a harsh winter for some so far. 

The tradition dates back decades and one Red Wings fan took it on the road Wednesday night in Minnesota.

Delta announced Wednesday the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is one of eight locations across the country where pet owners can now book their pet a flight in a new pet travel carrier called the “CarePod.”