Even in June, Borderland is reminded of why it got the nickname Icebox of the Nation.
With the first official day of summer less than two weeks away, the area isn’t typically setting record low temperatures. June 2, however, residents woke to frost on the ground and temperatures hovering right around 30 degrees – a record for the date.
“Last weekend, International Falls had pretty extensive cloud cover and that limited daytime heating,” said Kevin Kraujalis, meteorolgoist with the National Weather Service in Duluth.
The NWS reported that the morning low in International Falls was 30 degrees last Sunday. The previous record for June 2 was 32 degrees, set in 1969, 1982 and 2009. The normal low for the date is 44 degrees. Kraujalis said the coldest temperature set in June was 23 degrees in 1964.
While the meteorologist said the combination of cold high pressure moving down from Canada, clear skies, calm winds and dry air that allows for rapid cooling at night isn’t unheard of for this time of year, yet it is “somewhat unusual.”
“But there looks to be some warmer temperatures coming,” he said.
A warm up next week includes thermometer readings in the 70s and overnight lows in the mid-50s.
“It’ll be much warmer next week,” Kraujalis said, “but that doesn’t come without a price.”
He noted that the early-week forecast shows chances of showers and thunderstorms, more in line with average weather for this time of year, but nothing extreme, he said.
“It appears we’ll have some more typical June-like weather,” he said. “Summer is on its way.”
