It may have been a white Christmas in Borderland, but the weather outside wasn’t frightful.
The temperature trend for most of December has been milder than is typically experienced during this time of year, according to Kevin Kraujalis, assistant forecaster with the National Weather Service.
“The (International Falls) area is close to nearly nine degrees above normal for the month,” Kraujalis explained. “Christmas Day in the Falls hit 33 degrees.”
This year’s typically chilly holiday may have been warmer-than-normal, but it didn’t break a record, Kraujalis said. The record high for Dec. 25 was set in 1999 at 45 degrees. And just eight years ago, in 2003, the high for the day reached 38 degrees.
“Normal highs for this time of year are around 16 degrees,” Kraujalis said.
The holiday weekend’s warm temperatures continued into Monday, when outdoor thermometer readings climbed to a high of 41 degrees. The temperature fell short of the record of 42 degrees set in 1994.
“Through the first 26 days of December, the average temperature has been 19.3 degrees, making it the sixth warmest December to date on record,” the meteorologist said. “The next warmest December on record that holds the fifth place spot, was in 2001 with an average temperature of 21.2 degrees.”
Kraujalis said the typical average temperature for the 12th month of the year is 10.6 degrees. He attributed this year’s warmer weather to lack of snow and jet streams holding the cooler air to northern neighbors.
“The northern phase of jet streams have been going to Canada and holding cooler air at bay,” Kraujalis said. “We’ve been having the southern part of the stream and the main storm trek has been holding to the South and East, leaving us behind with a milder, pacific flow.”
Monday’s wind, according to Kraujalis, was a warm-air factor and gusts reached as high as 32 miles per hour near midnight.
Kraujalis continued that any colder days experienced throughout the month have been “quick hits,” including Tuesday’s six-degree daytime temperature.
“The area basically shifted 30 degrees in 24 hours,” he said.
Monday’s wind was the culprit for the early-morning temperatures lingering at zero degrees, Kraujalis said.
But, as 2011 gets ready to come to a close, temperatures are expected to go right back up into the 20s and 30s.
“The outlook for the rest of the week is going to be some more of those milder temperatures,” Kraujalis said.
Temperatures are predicted to be back in the 30s for New Year’s Eve and high temperatures should be between 25 and 30 degrees through the first of the year.
Kraujalis admitted that original predictions by national meteorologists that Borderland’s winter was going to be colder-than-normal were slightly off.
“The overall winter outlook has been modified,” he said. “When it comes to the temperature, once the winter is averaged out as a whole, it won’t be as cold as we originally thought.”
However, he warned the harshest part of the winter is predicted to come toward the end of the season.
“It’d be nice, but this warm air isn’t going to last all season,” he said with a laugh.
Snow on the way
Kraujalis noted that snowfall so far for the month has only been 5.3 inches, however, tonight and Thursday could get some of the white stuff on the ground.
“We’re predicting the area could see about 1-2 inches by Thursday night,” he said.
This December is the 24th least snowiest month on record Kraujalis said.
“I guess that is not too impressive,” he added with a laugh.
He assured that those traveling in the area over the New Year’s Eve weekend should have good weather-related conditions, and snow is unlikely.
For a complete forecast, visit www.crh.noaa.gov/dlh.
