Heavy Snow: December 16-17, 2016

Sign Outside the Waseca Weather Station
Courtesy: Minnesota State Climatology Office

Increasing the odds of a White Christmas, a long duration snow event swept across Minnesota on December 17-18, 2016

The cold peaked in the morning hours of Sunday December 18th, with temperatures falling into the -10s and -20s F across virtually all of Minnesota. Unlike many cold outbreaks, which rely on calm conditions and "radiational cooling," this one was ushered in by strong winds. As a result, many areas had windchills in the -30s and -40s on Sunday morning.

Coldest December daily low temperatures, Twin Cities
Low Temperature	Occurrences	Most recent date
-39 F	1	12/25/1879
-31 F	1	12/24/1872
-29 F	1	12/19/1983
-27 F	6	12/26/1996
-25 F	2	12/24/1983
-24 F	8	12/23/1990
-23 F	4	12/31/1976
-22 F	10	12/25/1996
-21 F	3	12/19/1955
-20 F	16	12/20/1989
-19 F	19	12/30/1976
-18 F	15	12/20/1996

Last modified: December 19, 2016

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