When did March lose the distinction of snowiest month? And which month has taken the title?
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A month that is notorious for heavy snowstorms will potentially add to its lore this week. At one point, March was known as the snowiest month, but not anymore.
When did March lose the distinction of snowiest month? And which month has taken the title? Good Question. Jeff Wagner learned winter in today's world is on a different schedule.
When high school hockey fans descend upon the Xcel Energy Center, Mother Nature often joins them.
"You always are coming down here and there's extra snow on the ground," said Alec Wicklund of St. Paul.
"It's like a snow globe or it could be just downpouring of snow," said Shawn Larkin, who works near the arena.
Those memories could influence one's assessment. Both guessed that March is the snowiest month of the year. There was a time when that answer would be correct.
"It hasn't been true since the period from 1951 through 1980," said Kenny Blumenfeld, a senior climatologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
What led to March losing the top spot on the list?
"The 1960s and 70s had some big, kind of famous, if you're a climatologist kind of famous, March snowstorms," said Blumenfeld.
Those storms raised the monthly average from 1950-1980, making it the snowiest of them all at nearly 12 inches. But as the decades went on, big March snowfalls fell off, and so did the month's ranking.
Below shows the 30-year average of snowfall totals in the Twin Cities across three time periods:
"It's also been warming pretty quickly over the most recent five decades or so, and there's a good chance that we've lost some storms that would have produced snow in the past to rain," Blumenfeld said.
Which winter month is starting to rise the fastest with snowfall totals? It would be the month before March, something Minnesotans were reminded of a few weeks ago.
Since the year 2000, seven of the 20 largest snowfalls in the Twin Cities hit in February. In Duluth, it's eight of 20. For Rochester, it's 11 out of 20.
What is currently the snowiest month on average in Minnesota? It depends on how you measure it. The MDNR looks at 30-year averages. That means December would top the list at 11.4 inches based on totals from 1991-2020.
If you want the all-time average since records were kept in 1885, it's January at 10.1 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Basically, every winter month prior to March has taken turns knocking it further down the list in some fashion. But not when it comes to the sting of a late-season storm.
"Everybody's ready for spring, and then you always get those 1-foot or 6-inch snowstorms in March. And it's like, 'Oh my gosh, it's still winter,'" said Wicklund.
There is one list that March still leads. Of the 25 largest snowstorms on record in the Twin Cities, seven happened in March. Six happened in November.