A Record-Breaking Warm, Snowless Winter Confounds Midwesterners

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/us/record-warm-weather-minnesota-wisconsin.html
https://archive.ph/gBa6K

A Record-Breaking Warm, Snowless Winter Confounds Midwesterners
Jogging in a T-shirt in Minnesota in December? A scientist called the rare string of balmy days “a visceral feeling of what climate change looks and feels like.”
By Ernesto Londoño and Michael Levenson
Dec. 26, 2023

Lucy Wallace, a recent transplant from San Diego, had been warned about the bone-chilling winters of her new hometown, Minneapolis. She bought a $900 winter coat, two pairs of boots and metal spikes to make her running shoes usable on icy sidewalks.

So she was at once befuddled and relieved by the record-breaking warm temperatures that made for a rare snowless winter holiday week in much of the upper Midwest.

“I spent hundreds of dollars on a new wardrobe and winter gear that so far has gone totally unused,” said Ms. Wallace, 35, who ran five miles on Christmas Day wearing a T-shirt. “Here I am wearing my San Diego wardrobe in December in Minneapolis.”

A high of 54 degrees made this Christmas Day the warmest on record in the Minneapolis area, according to the National Weather Service. Across much of the region, people contended with a string of days heading into the new year that felt like a mild autumn. Ice fishing was particularly perilous on lakes covered by thin ice caps.

...



Source: NOAA
Note: Monthly temperature anomalies for global land and ocean are relative to 1901-2000 averages. Data available through November 2023.
By Nadja Popovich
https://archive.ph/IxesJ

[Kaleva]

1. We might have a green New Year's Day here in Upper Michigan

[Permanut]

2. Confounding is right, it's a real mystery all right .

Gosh, I wonder what could be causing it

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

3. but, Parts of China gripped by record-low temperatures as icy snap intensifies

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143169339

I haven't had a frost yet, Sonoma coast, Calif. tomato plants blooming, some squash plants still alive. strange.

[Warpy]

4. All the cold went to Russia and China

but never fear, it'll be back here soon enough.

[Arazi]

5. Are they complaining?

Seriously, climate change means this is the new normal. If the northern states continue getting sufficient moisture, they’ll soon be the place people will move to as the south keeps cooking

[Old Crank]

6. How is the precipitation level?

If a huge swath of the Mississippi watershed gets no snow there will be severely reduced barge traffic.

[stopdiggin]

7. could be. but from what I'm reading other parts of the 'midwest'

are seeing ice storms and blizzard conditions yesterday and today. So .. just give it a minute or two ...

[ShazzieB]

8. We had temps in the 50s on Christmas Eve and Chrixtmas Day here in the Chicago area, too.

But last year, we had subzero temps the week of Christmas! I remember putting on all my warmest clothes to drive over to my daughter's house, including long underwear, and extra heavy socks, gloves, and hat, and I still froze in the car on the way over. It's about 20 minutes, and the car didn't even have time to warm up properly by the time we got there.

This year, I had on a light jacket, and no hat or gloves were needed. Much better, but weird. "Normal" temps for December around here would be about half way in between those two extremes! But if there's anything I've learned in this era of climate change, it's that the word "normal" doesn't really apply anymore! It's going to do what it's going to do, and there's nothing for it but to just roll with the punches as best you can!

[eShirl]

9. She could have bought the priciest LL Bean winter coat and had hundreds left over.

And they're no bargain basement.

[LeftInTX]

10. 47 in San Antonio. 33 in Duluth. It's 4 am.

Pretty much normal for SA, but not for Duluth!

[elocs]

11. My philosophy here in WI is that every above average warm winter day is one day closer to Spring.

Yes, we will likely get some winter storms, but frankly our winters seem to be much milder than they were here in Wisconsin when I was growing up as a kid in the late 50s. Also, milder than average winter weather also means lots of money saved on home heating costs.

[Model35mech]

13. My view of WI winter is it's become more subject to extremes

The Artic gyre is now stronger than ever, the Rocky Mountains still loom high in the west, and blasts of below zero F temps should be suspected and braced for through mid February. The real cold weather often doesn't really arrive until weeks after the winter solstice. So a good quality parka could yet turn out to be a good investment. I've longed for mild winters like that of 1998 for 20 years, and I have been regularly disappointed.

Recently deep cold in southern WI seems to come in shorter outbreaks, 1-3 days in duration, pushed by dips in the arctic gyre that haven't been stalled by extended Omega blocks (I expect that's subject to variability, and also undependable). These deep freeze episodes seem to come rather regularly, maybe 3-5 weeks apart. Across winter and spring there is often cold looming in the near term future.

So, I say enjoy the mild weather but keep that good winter coat and the double lined gloves/mittens handy, especially if you ride public transit and need to stand at bus-stops and train platforms.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

12. Doesn't confound ME!!

[2naSalit]

14. The same in much of...

Montana, though we've had a cold wave pass through, it will still be in the 40s for most of the week. There's not really any snow below 7,000ft. We could end up getting all our snow in a few weeks, like in 2021 when Yellowstone flooded, could be a repeat year coming up.