Douglas: We’ll slowly ease out of the deep freeze

By Todd Nelson, filling in for Paul Douglas:

Is it cold enough for you? As of today, we’ve just endured our 26th subzero night of the winter at MSP, 11 of which have happened this February. Last year we had a whopping six subzero nights, all occurring in January. Note that the 30-year average (1991-2000) is right around 22 subzero nights. Interestingly, the 30-year average prior to 2000 (1971-2000) showed that we had closer to 28 subzero nights each winter.

It undoubtedly has been cold enough, but where’s all of our snow? MSP is running a seasonal snow deficit of nearly 20 inches, Rochester nearly 24 inches, Duluth nearly 22 inches, and International Falls nearly 18 inches below normal.

Thanks to the recent plunges of Arctic air in January and February, the main storm track has been pushed south of our local area, impacting a large portion of the central and eastern U.S. If you’re keeping track, Kansas City, Mo., and Louisville, Kentucky, have seen more snow than we have this year, go figure!

We slowly ease out of the deep freeze with a welcomed thaw this weekend and a string of 40s next week.