As the calendar flipped to 2018, central Minnesota was hoping to flip the thermometer as well. With the average temperature typically ranging from 24 degrees for the high and 7 degrees for the low, 2017 ended nearly fifty degrees colder than the average high. With air temps dropping below -15, or even further for nearly the entire holiday week, many hoped 2018 would bring a warm up. Yet it wasn’t exactly the case.
With local news stations predicting below zero temperatures ranging from -15 to -40 with wind chill, and even some jumping to the extreme and predicting -70 as a night time low with the wind, it was enough to force everyone inside, for the New Year’s Eve celebrations.
This cold snap affected much of the country, as many areas hit record lows, and states such as Georgia and Florida even got snow! Towns all over the country sent new cold temperature records. This included Embarrass, MN, which is known at the “Nation’s Icebox”, which set a daily record at -36.
Although things in Minnesota did not quite reach the obscene temps of -50, the new year also did not jump to an instant warm up. Remaining in the below zero teen’s for most of the following week, by the time it began to warm up, the state had gone nearly 65 hours without seeing above zero temperatures.
Although things have finally warmed up a bit, temperatures are still no where near average, with daily highs reaching the single digits. Even though all this cold seems like it would even freeze time, all of us here in central Minnesota, bundle up, and keep going about our typical day, as if nothing is any different.
Stay warm and happy new year!