From winter boots to rubber boots and back to winter again, Mother Nature has been taking Borderland on quite the ride during the past week.
Area residents are often accustomed to the white stuff outside their doors for weeks before Thanksgiving. But this time around, Borderland had little snow, which melted, before the turkey day.
“The area has been experiencing some unusually warm weather,” said Rick Hluchan, meteorologist with the Duluth National Weather Service. “It made for a more enjoyable holiday.”
Last week’s mid-week Thanksgiving warm-up was caused by a ridge of high pressure that came in Nov. 23 and started to erode away low clouds that were keeping temperatures low, Hluchan explained.
“Once those clouds were gone, snow really started to melt,” he said.
The area’s snow depth quickly dwindled away as the temperatures warmed up, hitting a record of 50 degrees Nov. 23. Hluchan said the area had only one inch of snow on the ground Nov. 24 and nothing by Nov. 25.
However, almost as soon as bare ground was made visible, a low pressure system made way into the area, bringing with it 4.5 inches of snow Saturday.
“The amount of snow wasn’t very significant for the big scope of things or for this time of year,” Hluchan said. “It was, however, the biggest snowfall so far in International Falls in 2011.”
Hluchan attributed the snowfall to cold Canadian air making its way south and wrapping around the backside of last week’s system that brought in the warmer temperatures.
“Temperatures with the new system were cooler, but they stayed right above freezing as the system moved through,” he said. “We are still above normal for this time of year.”
The average temperature in Borderland for the end of November is typically 27 degrees for a high and 11 degrees for a low. In 1914, the record high temperature for Nov. 30 was set at 46 degrees and the record low was -27 degrees in both 1958 and 1964.
Hluchan said meteorologists predict this warm-to-snow pattern to continue as warmer temperatures hit the area Monday and another 2-4 inches of snow is expected today. “Another cold front is coming in just as quick as the last one and it could drop temperatures down pretty low.”
Hluchan called the system expected to bring today’s “quick shot of snow,” a “clipper system.” He said these systems come from Canada and got their name because they are fast movers and can sweep a large area quickly.
“Clippers are not known for heavy snow,” the meteorologist said. “They are known for being quick and bringing cold air behind them. Temperatures from this system may be colder than what the area has seen, but they will only put us at near normal temps for this time of year.”
By the end of November in 2010, Borderland had already experienced 29.2 inches of snowfall for the year. This year, only a total of 12.3 inches of the white stuff has fallen.
“Eventually, we’re expecting to get into a La Nina pattern, which overall will put us in the same pattern we were in last year,” Hluchan said.
He continued that as Mother Nature enters her final month of 2011, she will likely bring above normal amounts of precipitation and below normal temperatures.
For a complete forecast, visit http://www.crh.noaa. gov/dlh.
