Climate change ain't happenin' here, no siree…

Minnesota's winter temps continue rising

The average low temperature this winter was more than 10 degrees higher than usual, continuing an upward trend that climatologists attribute to global warming.

By MaryJo Webster, Minneapolis StarTribune
MARCH 17, 2016

If Minnesota winters seem warmer than when you were a kid, you're not imagining it.

The statewide average low temperature for December-February this year came in at 11.8 degrees, a marked difference from years past. This continues a decades-long upward climb in winter low temperatures that scientists attribute to climate change.

Sure, there are winters (like 2013-14) that have been phenomenally cold, and certainly this year's spike could prove to be an anomaly. But even without those outliers, there has been a clear upward trend in the average low temperatures that has been most prominent in the past 35 years.

During the first 16 years of the 20th century, only six Minnesota winters had an average low temperature above zero. In the same time period this century, we've had 13 winters with an average above zero. The change is especially striking in the Northeast region.

(Continued here with charts.)