News

Wimpy January was one for the record books

 

By Tim Krohn

Mankato Free Press, MN

February 2nd, 2006

 

MANKATO — It’s official.

 

“January broke every record since we’ve collected modern records in 1891,” said Assistant State Climatologist Pete Boulay.

“It’s just well above and beyond anything we’ve seen.”

 

In Mankato, the average temperature for the month was 28.2 degrees — nearly 16 degrees above the normal average for January.

 

It was the same across the state, with the departure from the norm getting higher as you go farther north, said Boulay, who works in the Department of Natural Resources Waters Division.

 

The past month beat the former mildest January by a full 2 degrees.

 

The warm, snowless winter may be enjoyable, but it’s not necessarily good for gardens and yard plants, said Fred Struck of Traverse Des Sioux Garden Center in St. Peter.

 

“Snow is a wonderful insulator. Whenever you have an open winter, you have more winter kill.”

 

The only benefit is that temperatures have stayed above zero. “If we get some temperatures below zero and it’s bare like this, there’ll likely be more winter kill.”

 

Struck said more people have come in to buy mulch to cover perennials and sensitive plants to protect them. Some also have bought mulch to fool their tulips.

 

“We’ve had some people who have tulips coming up on the south sides of their houses. They’re putting mulch on them to insulate them and keep them down.”

 

The nice weather has brought more browsers to the garden store.

 

“When the weather’s like March, people start thanking spring. But it’s still February. It’s a little too early to think about spring projects.”

 

One benefit for garden centers, he said, has been a savings on heat for the greenhouses.

 

The warm month did not equal a lot of savings for area highway departments.

 

George Rosati, public works director for Mankato, said there were several episodes of sleet, snow and slush that came at the wrong time.

 

“The good thing is we weren’t plowing mounds of snow. But we got precipitation, and it all came on nights, weekends and holidays. That’s the expensive time. It means overtime.”

 

Boulay said the state has good temperature records going back to 1846 and has some going back to 1820. That’s the year soldiers at Fort Snelling began keeping records. But Boulay said it’s hard to compare the data they collected.

“They didn’t have the technology to take all-day temperatures and record highs and lows. They just checked their thermometers three times at day, at 9 a.m., 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.”

 

But, he said, looking at those earliest records kept by the soldiers, it doesn’t appear they recorded a January as warm as this one.

 

Boulay said the “astonishing January” has brought a new level of interest in global warming.

 

He plotted a graph of average temperatures from 1894 to 2003 to come up with some idea of increased warming trends in the state.

 

“The rate of warming is about 1.5 degrees per century. The warmest part of that trend has been in the past decade.”

 

Boulay said the winter seasons have warmed the most — about 2.1 degrees over the century. Springs and summers are a bit warmer, while average fall temperatures have been mostly unchanged in the past 100 years.

 

“There’s good and bad about it. It’s nice to be able to wear tennis shoes to work in January,” Boulay said.

But he fears Minnesota’s reputation as a bitter winter wonderland may be fading.

“It’s kind of hard to brag about having Missouri winters here.”