Will 2015 be another wild weather year?

I was born in Minnesota.

We grew up with the notion that winters were harsh and predictable. We were conditioned to believe in the frozen tundra. The Purple People Eaters belching steam on frigid days at Met Stadium. Die Hard battery commercials on a frozen lake near International Falls.

Lately we've been getting used to mostly milder winters of the past decade. Let's face it Minnesota. We've been losing our edge. Our macho. Our winter weather swagger.

The Crazy Weather Year of 2014

Then the Polar Vortex of 2014 brought the coldest winter in 35 years. We sandbagged and bailed out our basements as the June Monsoon raged. We pulled sailors and boats off the rocks as gravity wave driven storms pounded the Twin Cities. We shivered through the coldest mid-July in a century. We glared at white skies in July as thick smoke from massive Canadian forest fires robbed us of precious summer sunshine. We basked in record 50 degree December warmth. The coldest year in 18 years in Minnesota, as the planet basked in the warmest year on record globally.

Yes, 2014 was like a weather Twilight Zone in Minnesota. A cold spot in a record warm world.

What next, 2015?

Now, the crazy weather year formerly known as 2014 is in the books.

Many Minnesotans are scratching our collective heads for weather answers. What is a year in weather anyway? What does it mean in the big picture? What surprises will 2015 deal Minnesota? Another warmest year on record globally? With a developing El Niño, the odds say that's a distinct possibility.

I have a hunch the pattern may shift toward the hotter for Minnesota by next summer. I'm concerned about going into another spring with relatively dry soils after a dry fall.

We've been bailed out the past few years from fall drought with abundant spring rains. One of these years that pattern may fail and drought could become a big issue early in summer. That's something to watch in Minnesota in 2015.

2015 opens on a milder note for Minnesota. Temperatures run pretty close to seasonal averages through Saturday, before the next arctic front barrels south Saturday night. Next week's inbound air mass looks about 5 degrees colder than the one we endured this week. I can easily see temps bottoming out around -10 to -12 in the metro next Monday morning -- with -20s up north. Not quite Polar Vortex cold, but the season's coldest air mass so far.

Again.

Light snow chances favor Saturday, with another snow shot possible Monday night.

As for the rest of 2015? Place your bets, and buckle up. It could be another wild weather ride.