It hasn’t been lost on many that this past winter has been significantly warmer than usual. Putting aside some significant snowfall in late March, Minnesotans have not seen a lot of snow this winter, and according to the Minnesota DNR (Department of Natural Resources), most areas of the state have received less than 50% of their usual snowfall. This is coupled with record high temperatures in MN from December to February, marked by temperatures hitting 50 degrees 18 times all throughout winter, 11 of those times in February. Pete Boulay, a climatologist with the Minnesota DNR, told CBS that 85% percent of the days this winter have been above normal average temperatures. Minnesota isn’t the only place affected too, as throughout the U.S. people have been caught off guard by the unseasonably warm weather. So why has it been so warm? While fluctuation within weather patterns is normal, there are a few reasons why the weather was so noticeably different this year.
First, the weather this year was affected by the Pacific weather pattern referred to as El Niño. El Niño weather occurs when winds across the Pacific Ocean weaken, and warm water from the Pacific is pushed back towards the west coast of the Americas. As a consequence, the Pacific jet stream moves south of where it usually is. This means that the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southeast experience wetter conditions and increased flooding, whereas Minnesota and all of the northern U.S. as well as Canada experience much warmer weather than usual, which contributed to Minnesota’s record high temperatures.
The jet stream this year has also affected temperatures in the upper Midwest due to its position. Jet streams are lines of strong wind that form when cold air from the north hits warm air from the south. The jet stream has been far enough north where warm air has been hitting Minnesota and the Midwest in a way that it usually does not.
One of the things that has been on a lot of people’s minds with the unusually warm weather is climate change, and there is very little doubt that climate change has impacted the weather this year. Along with climate and temperature trends generally warming, climate change has exacerbated the other factors that caused the unseasonable warmth this winter.
So while this winter was strange to a lot of us who are used to cold weather and heaps of snow, if we know anything about Minnesota, there’s always hope for a more normal winter next year.
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