News

Holidrizzle

 

Pioneer Press, MN

January 29th, 2006

BY MARY DIVINE

 

Mike Scott sported shorts and wore shoes without socks, and Carrie Schafhauser clutched a red-and-white striped umbrella.

 

Not your typical St. Paul Winter Carnival paradewatching gear.

 

But then Saturday's parade weather was anything but typical.

 

The temperature was 39 degrees and the sky overcast when the parade kicked off at 1:30 p.m. in downtown St. Paul. It made Katie Nemmers wonder where all the green was.

 

"This should be a St. Patrick's Day parade, and a balmy St. Patrick's Day parade at that," said Nemmers, a St. Paul attorney.

Much of Minnesota has been enjoying an abnormally warm January. It hit 52 degrees in Duluth on Friday. There has yet to be a temperature reading zero degrees or colder in the Twin Cities since 2006 began. And the relative heat wave is expected to continue for the next few days of the Winter Carnival.

 

Saturday's temperatures eventually reached 40 degrees in the Twin Cities, according to the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. That's well above the normal 23-degree high. Instead of snow, a slight rain fell during a portion of the big parade as it wound through downtown St. Paul.

 

"The last time I did the Winter Carnival it was 3 below," said Carrie Schafhauser, 26, of St. Paul. "I don't mind it, but I hope I don't have to bring my umbrella next year."

 

Nemmers, who took her 3½-year-old daughter Emily to see the parade, said the warm weather made her worry about global warming. "It's not as cold as it used to be (during the Winter Carnival), and I think people should be concerned about that," Nemmers said. "It's sad to see the ice sculptures melting."

 

Still, Nemmers said she was happy to not have to push her daughter's stroller through snow and slush on their walk across the Wabasha Street Bridge.

 

Over in Rice Park, ice sculptors on Saturday watched their creations slowly dripping away. Greg Kraft mourned the loss of his multi-block replica of a 1904 one-room log-cabin schoolhouse. He pointed to a melting mass in front and said, "That was the school marm."

 

In a perfect ice-sculpting world, the weather would be 10 degrees and cloudy, said Brandon Morris, who lives in Marine on St. Croix.

 

Instead, Morris spent part of Saturday washing mud off of his sculpture and making snow.

 

"I've never had to make snow before during the Winter Carnival," said Morris, 24, who was working on a sculpture titled "Welcome Home Peter." "And this is the first time I've ever had to wash my ice."

 

Rain was forecast Saturday night with overnight lows in the upper 20s.

 

While temperatures are expected to remain above normal over the next few days, they are expected to drop slightly from the springlike weather we had this past week, according to the National Weather Service.

 

A high of 33 and light snow is expected today, said National Weather Service meteorologist Karen Trammell.

 

A cooler forecast was music to the ears of St. Paul resident Mike Scott, who on Saturday shunned the thermals and boots many often wear this time of year to don a pair of shorts and tennis shoes to take in the Winter Carnival.

 

"I'd rather have it cooler," said Scott, 47, a factory worker. "It's much more comfortable for me when it's cold."

Mary Divine can be reached at 651-228-5443.