Central Minnesota’s Warm Year Ends with Record Breaking December

(KNSI) — One of the warmest years on record in central Minnesota had one final hurrah as 2023 came to a close.

Data from the National Weather Service forecast office in Chanhassen shows St. Cloud had its warmest December ever, with an average temperature of 32.1 degrees. That’s 14.3 degrees above normal and shattered the previous December record by 3.5 degrees set in 1913. Meteorologist Joe Strus noted why the big jump. “In terms of your normal day to day temperature may not seem like a lot, but when you really average it out over the course of a month, that is a significant change out there. And one of the thoughts in the office is hey, we’ve had really no snowpack. And the snowpack, this time of year, traditionally can help us have some colder nights and lead to cooler temperatures overall.”

St. Cloud registered no zero degree readings all month and no days with below normal temperatures. That helped cap off the third hottest year in the city’s history.

Strus says we can blame the balmy conditions on the Pacific weather pattern known as El Niño. “It’s a very, very strong El Niño, and when you get that, you typically look at what is going to be above normal temperatures over the period for winter in this part of the country. Precip can go either way; above normal [or] below normal. Certainly, we felt the wetness here over the Christmas holiday.”

St. Cloud saw a record 3.35″ of precipitation last month, besting the old one set in 2010 by nearly .75″. Not since 1895 has a month set a new record for temperature and precipitation simultaneously.

Strus says colder temperatures are coming next week, but we can expect the mild winter to continue.

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