A colder than normal start to December?
After balmy November, a real Minnesota winter may be coming
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The times they are a-changin'.
We’re living through what is likely to end up as the warmest meteorological autumn on record in Minnesota.
Temperatures in November through Sunday are 6.8 degrees warmer than normal. We had the warmest September on record at 7 degrees above normal followed by the fifth warmest October at 8 degrees above normal.
Now, though, our weather maps appear to be undergoing the annual seasonal pattern change into winter. The jet stream is accelerating due to the colder air to the north, and it’s diving down across the central and eastern United States.
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A series of cold waves is evident on the upper-air forecast maps across our region this week. On the map below, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows the trends between Monday and next Sunday, Dec. 1.
A few snow showers or flurries are possible Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day but little accumulation is likely.
Temperatures this week will gradually cascade lower. Highs Tuesday will feel more like December.
By Thanksgiving Day, our temperatures will be more typical for January in Minnesota.
Temperatures across Minnesota will bottom out Thanksgiving weekend. Overnight minimum temperatures will crash to subzero in the northwest with temperatures in the single digits south by the predawn hours of Saturday.
Highs this weekend will be in the teens.
Cold December?
The pattern for December looks wintry. NOAA’s outlooks favor equal chances of cooler or warmer than normal temperatures next month.
If next month is around normal, it will be the first real winter month in about two years given last winter was the mildest winter on record.
Welcome to what looks like a real Minnesota winter season ahead.