Warm, muggy air surged northward out ahead of a cold front and low pressure system that was located over Kansas at midnight on December 15. The soggy air continued to support plenty of clouds and fog. In fact, December 15 marked the ninth day in a row of mostly cloudy to cloudy conditions in the Twin Cities. The record for consecutive days of zero minutes of sunshine is 15 days from October 30 to November 13, 1972. A close second is 14 days from December 26, 1991 to January 8, 1992.
The warm and muggy conditions of December 13-15 broke temperature records in the Twin Cities. The record high temperature of December 15 was broken with a high of 51 degrees that was reached at 4:45am. This broke the old record of 49 degrees set in 1923. In addition, a new warm minimum record was set on December 14 with a low of 43 degrees. This broke the old record of 38 degrees in 1891.
The dew point temperature of 49 degrees on December 15, not only set the record for the date (old record was 39 degrees) it also is the warmest dew point temperature so late in December.
Ice fishing houses on Mille Lacs Ice, December 15, 2014. Photo courtesy Twin Pines Resort
Daily dew point records for the Twin Cities include: December 13, 2014: 44 degrees, previous record was 37 degrees December 14, 2014: 48 degrees, previous record was 39 degrees December 15, 2014: 49 degrees, previous record was 39 degrees
Of course, the record warm air was not just confined to the Twin Cities. Duluth set a record high minimum temperature on December 14 with a low temperature of 37 degrees, breaking the old record of 35 degrees set in 1928. St. Cloud also set some record warm minimum temperature records. On December 13 The old record warm minimum of 39 degrees was broke with a low of 40 degrees and on December 14, the low was 42 degrees and this broke the old record at St. Cloud of 35 that was set in 1928.
Rochester also saw its share of warm minimum temperature records with a new warm minimum record set of 42 degrees on December 14, breaking the old record of 37 that was set in 1928.
Below are Record Event Reports from the National Weather Service
RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHANHASSEN MN 618 AM CDT MON DEC 15 2014 ...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET AT TWIN CITIES MN TODAY... A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 51 DEGREES WAS SET AT THE TWIN CITIES TODAY AT 445 AM. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 49 DEGREES SET IN 1923. RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHANHASSEN MN 130 AM CDT MON DEC 15 2014 RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHANHASSEN MN 130 AM CDT MON DEC 15 2014 ...RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE SET AT TWIN CITIES MN YESTERDAY... A RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 43 DEGREES WAS SET AT THE TWIN CITIES YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 38 DEGREES SET IN 1891. ...RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE SET AT ST CLOUD MN YESTERDAY... A RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 42 DEGREES WAS SET AT ST CLOUD YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 35 DEGREES SET IN 1928. RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI 101 AM CST MON DEC 15 2014 ...A NEW RECORD WARM MINIMUM TEMPERATURE ESTABLISHED AT ROCHESTER MN... THE LOW TEMPERATURE FOR DECEMBER 14TH AT THE ROCHESTER AIRPORT WAS 42 DEGREES. THIS ESTABLISHES A NEW RECORD FOR THE WARMEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE. THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 37 HAD STOOD FOR 86 YEARS SINCE BEING SET IN 1928. RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI 1258 AM CST MON DEC 15 2014 ...A NEW RECORD WARM MINIMUM TEMPERATURE ESTABLISHED AT LA CROSSE WI... THE LOW TEMPERATURE FOR DECEMBER 14TH AT THE LA CROSSE AIRPORT WAS 43 DEGREES. THIS ESTABLISHES A NEW RECORD FOR THE WARMEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE. THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 41 HAD STOOD FOR 123 YEARS SINCE BEING SET IN 1891. RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 930 AM CST WED DEC 15 2014 ...RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE SET AT DULUTH MN... A RECORD WARM MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 37 DEGREES WAS SET AT DULUTH MN YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 35 SET IN 1928. RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA/GRAND FORKS 503 AM CST MON DEC 15 2014 ...SEVERAL RECORD HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURES OCCURRED OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS... STARTING ON DECEMBER 11TH... AT THE GRAND FORKS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 27 DEGREES WHICH TIED THE OLD RECORD OF 27 DEGREES SET IN 1968 AND 1965. ON DECEMBER 12TH... AT THE FARGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 32 DEGREES. THE OLD RECORD WAS A 3 WAY TIE OF 28 DEGREES SET IN 2006...1921 AND 1883. AT THE GRAND FORKS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WAS 30 DEGREES. THE OLD RECORD WAS 25 DEGREES SET IN 2006. AT THE GRAND FORKS UNIVERSITY (NWS)...THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 30 DEGREES. THE OLD RECORD WAS ANOTHER 3 WAY TIE OF 25 DEGREES SET IN 2006...1921 AND 1920. ON DECEMBER 13TH... AT THE FARGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 34 DEGREES. THE OLD RECORD WAS 32 DEGREES SET IN 1921. AT THE GRAND FORKS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 29 DEGREES. THE OLD RECORD WAS A 3 WAY TIE OF 24 DEGREES SET IN 2006...1993 AND 1988. AT THE GRAND FORKS UNIVERSITY (NWS)...THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 30 DEGREES. THE OLD RECORD WAS 25 DEGREES SET IN 1988 AND 1907. ON DECEMBER 14TH... AT THE GRAND FORKS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...THE HIGHEST DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 32 DEGREES. THE OLD RECORD WAS 29 DEGREES SET IN 1998.