Our longest snow cover streak in years finally melts away
Consecutive days with at least 1" of snow on the ground at the official climate site of the Twin Cities, which is MSP Airport. This is the longest streak since the "polar vortex" winter of 2013-2014.
(FOX 9) - Nov. 26 was the last time there was less than an inch of snow on the ground officially in the Twin Cities. That is a streak of 98 days, and that streak just ended.
With our above freezing temperatures becoming far more consistent the last couple of weeks, the snow has been gradually compacting and then melting. Now there is officially just a trace of snow in the metro for the first time in a WHILE. In fact, we just finished our longest snow cover streak since the winter of 2013-2014.
Even with all of the snow over the last couple of years, we managed a more consistent snow pack this year, mostly because of our large snowstorm at the end of November and then a very seasonable and consistently snowy December. Over the last couple of years, the state has seen an extremely lopsided snow season with the bulk of the snow falling after January. This has often led to bare ground through much of December and even parts of January. That alone significantly cuts down on the number of consecutive days you can have snow cover.
While this has been our longest stretch in a while, it’s certainly nowhere close to the longest. The longest streak was 136 days back in 1965. Snow was on the ground all the way to April 10! Since 2000, we have had 4 years with a longer streak than this year; the winter seasons ending in 2001, 2008, 2011 and 2014.