Borderland deer won't need jackets and hats for the deer hunting opener this weekend, as the conditions should be ideal.
Saturday marks the beginning of deer hunting season in Minnesota, and area hunters should see afternoon high temperatures in the low 30s and overnight low temperatures in the mid 20s, said Kevin Huyck, meterologist at the National Weather Service in Duluth. Over the following two weeks of the season, hunters should see temperatures continue to trend down.
“By the time we get to the middle and end of the month, we'll probably, on average, be about five to 10 degrees cooler,” he said.
These temperatures will be ideal for deer hunting, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources area wildlife supervisor Larry Petersen said. Cool weather is beneficial and promotes deer movement, as the cold weather doesn't bother the deer. High winds and heavy rain or snow curtail movement, he said, but the weekend forecast doesn't call for any precipitation.
“It's not going to be an excuse for hunters, as far as the temperature being an impact,” Petersen said. “Right about now is when we have the most natural deer activity for breeding season.”
During October, when it came to average daily temperatures and precipitation, Borderland couldn't have been closer to normal, according to weather records.
The average temperature was 41.4 degrees, 0.3 degrees above the normal average of 41.1 degrees. This compares to the warmest October on record, where in 1963 the average temperature was 53.6 degrees.
Borderland saw 2.07 inches of precipitation during the month, 0.01 inches below the normal average of 2.08 inches. The wettest October on record was 1909, which saw 5.45 inches of precipitation.
Most of the precipitation in the month was concentrated during the 5th and 6th, as well as the 14th and 15th. The area saw a couple of large rain producing systems during those times, Huyck said. Having large, rainy systems move through and give way to dry periods is normal, he added.
“You get a system that comes through and produces a little bit of rain for a day or two, sometimes three if it's real slow-moving, and then moves out and we dry out for a few days, and then we get another one,” he said. “We'll see that pattern repeated through November as well.”
Borderland only saw 1.6 inches of snow during October, 0.6 inches below the normal average of 2.2 inches. When compared to 1917, the snowiest October on record with 10.5 inches, residents can be thankful they didn't have to break out the shovels before Halloween.
An inch of the total snowfall came between the 19th and 20th, and melted shortly after falling. Current forecast models don't have a big snow system coming through until after Thanksgiving, Huyck said.
“There doesn't appear to be any big systems like that in the short term,” he said. “We could get a little bit of snow maybe around the 10th, but doesn't appear to be very much.”
Borderland also experienced some mornings with heavy fog cover, which can be caused by cooling in clear sky conditions, which quickly drops the temperature, Huyck said. This can produce a little bit of moisture in the form of fog. Fog can also roll in following a storm system, when moisture gets trapped in the lower levels of the atmosphere.
“It's almost like a sandwich, where you've got stable air that's slightly warmer a few thousand feet above the surface,” he said. “Then you have this layer that's trapped underneath of it that can't mix out, so you get this low-level moisture that gets trapped, so day after day you see fog as the temperatures drop.”
